


Red scales, Surfboards and Breaking the rules

by sasuhina_gal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altea is a Carribean country, Established Adashi, Keith has red/purple eyes, M/M, Mermaid Krolia, Mermaid Melody Fusion, Mermaid Tales Voltron Big Bang 2020, Mermaid Tex, Prince Keith, Queen Krolia, Royal Consort Tex, Secrets within the kingdom, mermaid keith, mermaid shiro, surfer lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 56,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24363325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasuhina_gal/pseuds/sasuhina_gal
Summary: The stories of the Indian Ocean Kingdom and Panthalassa have haunted the kingdom since the reign of Pearl Princess Sara. A ban against human/mer relationships has been placed on the kingdom, but like the sea, when has a mer ever listened to rules? Keith broke enough of them sneaking out of the kingdom to go follow surfers under their boards, but when a Panthalassa weapon threatens to hurt Keith in more ways than just physical, he leaves to join a banished mer on land. He was expecting to just hide away until he can get answers, not to meet a human who would make him feel as safe as he did in the sea’s arms. But wasn't finding the unexpected as fun as not following rules?
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Keith's Father/Krolia (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 113
Collections: Voltron Mermaid Tales Bang 2020





	1. Breaking rules

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I do have another mer fic, but when I found this bang I had to do it. It took a while to come up with an idea but after seeing a Mermaid Melody picture on tumblr when looking for mermaid stuff, it hit me, so I hope you enjoy this. My artist for this was the amazing [mimiaguilar](https://www.instagram.com/mimiaguilar/). I'll admit, I fangirled a little when I found out we were paired together, and her picture for this was so amazing! You can find it [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAl7tVFg2fA/?igshid=1qbbwpq5ospbp), the scene that inspired it isn't until chapter 4, but no reason you can't enjoy the picture now. I also have to thank [lole_cuzican](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lole_cuzican/pseuds/lole_cuzican) for betaing the story for me. I definitely feel like when I had first finished this I had so many errors but she was such a huge help. A huge thank you to all the mods in charge of this event, I had a lot of fun and I hope you guys enjoy this story.  
> Oh an another thing, if I find out you guys reposted mimiaguilar's picture without her permission, we're gonna have issues because it makes me so mad that a request so simple made by artists can't be followed. The art isn't yours, so don't repost it. Thank you.

Deep in the sea, all parts of the sea were ruled by different kingdoms of mercreatures. The North and South Pacific Oceans, North and South Atlantic Oceans, Arctic and Antarctic Oceans and the Indian Ocean all had their own kingdoms. Their rulers would usually be known as Pearl Royals, mermaids with singing voices pure enough to hurt evil. The last generation of Princesses had been the biggest defence against evil, an old clan named after the super ocean that once existed, the Panthalassa. Every evil they faced after that, were connected to that clan. The clan of followers, blindly followed their leader and had caused great turmoil throughout the kingdom. Anything associated with them was looked down upon, including the once highly revered kingdom of the Indian Ocean. Home to a Pearl Princess who had destroyed her whole kingdom out of grief when they tried to protect her from a human’s love. who joined with a surviving member of the Panthalassa and stayed with him to die together when he was finally defeated.  
  
The kingdom of the Indian Ocean’s newest queen had been captured and her soul was ripped apart by a new enemy before she could fully take form. Unfortunately, she felt sympathy for the enemy, just like the Pearl Princess before her. The people within the kingdom felt like there was nothing good about their home anymore. They held the last weapons of the Panthalassa; the Staff of Panthalassa and Poseidon’s Trident to protect them and as a reminder of how their rulers had fallen.   
  
Their own prince, the next Pearl Prince in this case, didn’t even cause the Pearl to react at his birth. To them, it was the lowest they could possibly reach.

* * *

Attendants of the Pearl Princess of the Arctic Ocean swam through the halls of the Indian Ocean palace.

“My mother was here before the original palace was destroyed. She says this one looks way better. The previous one mimicked the land’s Taj Mahal, this one is less grand.” An attendant told her co-worker.

“Really? She thinks it’s better? I think it’s just a reminder of how low they’ve fallen. I mean, the previous Pearl Princess sided with the Panthalassa. A clan so evil, the goddess Aqua Regina had to destroy them all. I’m surprised a new Indian Ocean Pearl Princess was created after that, and she got herself captured.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. That new enemy was more powerful than the Panthalassa. We should be thankful they weestopped them before they wiped everyone out. It took the power of all the Pearl Princesses and Aqua Regina herself to stop them. Besides, wasn’t one of the Pearl Princesses courting a lost member of the Panthalassa?”

“King Kaito was human, not part of that evil clan. I think most mers were just surprised they’ve been able to rule together seeing how he was from Japan, and human.”

The more sympathetic mer looked at her friend. “I’m sure it was mentioned he was part of the Panthalassa.”

“He wasn’t. Trust me. Anyway, this palace is just asking to be broken again. I hear the prince never even made a connection with the pearl. How can he be expected to rule? This place is a complete sham.”

“Trust me, I’d be more than happy to show you the door.” The two attendants let out squeaks when they saw the mer in front of them. His tail, more red compared to the orange tones around him. The Prince of the Indian Ocean, Keith, glared at the mermaids in front of him, the red in his dark coloured eyes burning like fire and his white hair making him seem almost demon-like. “For your information, if our kingdom was in such shambles, Aqua Regina would have appeared herself. No one asked for your unwanted opinions. I might not be a Pearl Prince, but that won’t stop me from attacking any threat to my kingdom, including gossiping mers who have too much time on their hands to be badmouthing their hosts. I can have you locked up for treason.”

The two mermaids bowed, “We apologize your highness.”

“Now, get out of my sight.” He ordered, watching the two purple tailed mers swim off.

Keith had grown up on stories of the kingdom’s disgrace, but he never saw that for a moment. They were thriving. Their first queen had been in love and had given herself over to love, but the council only saw what she had done out of grief. They only saw a girl, too young to lead,be captured and feel sympathy for the enemy.  
  
That’s what his mother told him. He grew up knowing that the Princesses protected the seas and the mers had forgotten that. He wasn’t going to let anyone lay insult to his home, no matter what anyone said.

Not that their kingdom wasn’t damaged, strict rules stifled their people. Keith had already lost his best friend because of the rules. The council kept tight control, leaving his mother unable to let their people breathe without fear of repercussions.

Keith swam to his room and picked up a book from his vanity,.He needed a way out of the castle and he knew just the thing. He swam down the halls, listening for the familiar sound of wooden sticks slamming against each other, steel against steel. The training room for the Blades, the kingdom’s guards.

Keith easily slipped in, swimming towards a small group of mers. They were different from other mers in the kingdom because their tails were like sea animals. Thace, the one he was looking for, had the tail of a tail of an orca, and a fin in the middle of his back.

“Thace!”

The dark hair mer looked away from his conversation to look at the prince.

“Your highness? Shouldn’t you be with your mother speaking to the Princess of the Arctic Ocean?”

“Mom let me go early when the conversation turned to expected events for the Pearl Royals. It’s hell being in that conversation. It seems like I’m fighting every mer that’s got an issue with our kingdom... So I was wondering if you could maybe…” Keith trailed off, hoping Thace would be able to understand what he wanted. Judging from the tired sigh, he knew exactly what the prince wanted.

“You do know you shouldn’t even be leaving the castle. What would your mother say?”

“I think we both know that question is what would the council say, and I don’t care what they think. Can you tell them I’m here or not? There’s supposed to be a surf competition in Dubai.”

“That’s a bit far isn’t it?”

Keith shrugged. “It’ll take an hour if I super swim.”

Thace let a heavy sigh, knowing Keith would not be talked out of it. “Ok fine but take Kosmo with you.”

Handing Thace the book to make it look like he was in the training room, Keith swam out again, calling out a thanks over his shoulder. He easily slipped through one of the windows sea creatures used to swim in and out of the castle. He passed a pod of dolphins and with a whistle, one of them peeled off from the group.

“Think you can keep up Kosmo?” Keith teased at the dusky dolphin as he swam.

While he might not be the perfect prince in terms of a Pearl Prince, he was well known for being the fastest mer in the whole kingdom. By the time he broke the surface, he could see the waves rising for the start of the human’s surfing competition. Kosmo followed along slowly.

“Welcome to the Sunset National Surfing Competition! We’ve got surfers from all over hoping for first place, but I think we can all agree that we just want to have a good time and see some sick riding! Let’s go over our rules. Electric type boards have to be checked before you're called to catch a wave. The boards might help you, but no one likes a cheater. You can be in the water, but you only catch a wave when your name and number is called. We’ve got 3 30 minute heats which the judges have determined to be enough time for all our competitors. We’ve got 12 in total, a complete mix of sexes, so it’s anyone’s game. So, without further ado, let’s get started! I can see the waves starting to build up so let’s get the first group out. Number 18, Ryan Kinkade from New York. Number 37, Ezor Li from Brazil. Number 20, Rolo Craft from Cali. And number 49, Curtis Young from Sydney! Let’s get started!”

Keith ducked under a forming wave, knowing not to get too close for people to see Kosmo. This was one of his favourite things to do. The fact that a human could balance so easily on a thin board,and let the waves control them also interested him. He would usually follow under the shadow of their boards, carefully of course. Last time, he hadn’t been paying attention and they had thought he was a shark and shut the whole competition down. He was lucky that the news never got back to his mother. There was a slight problem though. He’d been doing this since he was a guppy, but for the past 10 years, these electric boards had become popular. The electric stabilizer and trackers made a humming sound when in the water, which irritated the hell out of his ears and any other sea animal nearby. Keith could already hear the annoying hum of the boards as they entered the water.

He glanced over at Kosmo, “It’s not like every surfer is using an electric board now, some must still be using traditional ones, right?”

Kosmo only let out an apprehensive click.

It seemed like all the surfers, except maybe 2 used electric boards. He’d been following a surfer with their traditional board, when they’d been intercepted by a person on an electric board surprising Keith so suddenly, that when he swam away, he was sure that he’d hit the board and caused the surfer to wipeout.

“Poseidon above, I came here to get away from annoying sounds, and now that’s all I’m hearing! Maybe I should just head home.” Keith said, letting Kosmo nuzzle him.He didn’t want to leave but this was getting annoying, and anymore of this, he’d have a headache to deal with for the rest of the Pearl Princesses visit. He watched the surfers return to land. “It’s the last Heat, maybe I can just check?”

Kosmo poked him. He didn’t have much to lose.

Keith surfaced again, hiding behind the waves to listen to the announcer.

“This is it, our last heat! Ryan is in first! Jayden in second and Ezor and Luka tied for third. This last heat will determine if they keep those spots or lose them to this group. Here is our last group! Number 19, Morvok Runnet from England. Number 11, Shay Garrett from here in Hawaii. Number 33, Fara Queen from Spain and finally Number 4, Lance McClain from Altea!”

“Where is Altea?” the other announcer asked.

“Glad you asked. It’s a small island, about a few hundred thousand people living on it. Beautiful place. The Garrison actually has a school there, their pilot school actually. Kind of in between the Caribbean islands and like Florida and all the places on that coast. It’s really tiny, so it gets brushed off a bit, but I’ve been there. Pretty sweet. This surfer is pretty interesting too because he only uses a traditional board. He’s one of the examples of not needing the extra stabilization. He holds the title for surfing champ on the North Atlantic side.”

“Oh, he’s that Lance McClain! Hang on, you're telling me he’s still using a regular board? We’ve seen maybe 2 people today that do and they’ve admitted they use electric as well.”

“According to McClain, he takes the sound an electric board produces very seriously. He doesn’t like how it affects our fishy friends.”

“Well, let’s hope his dedication pays off. First one up is Shay!”

Keith ducked back down. Altea, he knew that place. Never visited, but he knew that the island held someone very important. The last board on the wave was the one he was looking for. He noticed there was a sticker on the bottom. Keith had only seen stickers on boards that sunk into the water.

“Is that…a mer?” Sure enough, on the board was a sticker of a sitting mermaid.. “Huh, wonder if he also wants to protect the ears of mers too?” Keith heard clicking and squeaks and turned to where Kosmo was waiting, another dolphin from his pod nearby. He could hear the warning; his mother was looking for him and the Blades could only stall for so long. “Oh gods below. By the time I get back, she’ll know I’m gone. I’m coming.” Keith didn’t even turn to look back at the board as he swam to his dolphins and back home.

“And that is the last heat! Everyone bring it in! The judges are tallying up the points. It looks like we’ve got a new tie for third, Jayden and Fara! In second place, Shay! In first place, one moment please… is Lance McClain with 17.8/20! Congrats to all our winners and for those of you who didn’t make the podium, don’t be disappointed. You showed your best today! Before you know it, it’ll be you on the podium. So let’s give a round of applause to our winners!”


	2. Not the best first meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With everything that's been going on, I hope this can be a spot of taking a break for you. Mimi's picture, which is linked [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAl7tVFg2fA/?igshid=1qbbwpq5ospbp) has a peice of a scene here in it. It is slightly different from what I describe Keith to be, with his white hair, but it doesn't come up that often in the story so it's fine. Please enjoy.

“Have you lost your mind? What if the council found out about this? You know what’ll happen, don’t you?” Krolia demanded, her purple tail standing out, amongst the red and orange of her people.

Keith wasn’t looking at his mother, embarrassed that he’d been caught. He knew his mother did not agree with how the council did things, but she still had rules to follow.

“Keith, answer me.”

“I know. I’ve never been caught or anything.” He defended.

“It doesn’t matter. The council is tense enough without you trying to run off. This can’t happen again. Do you hear me?” Keith didn’t answer until his mother moved his face to look at her. “Answer me.”

“Alright, fine.” Keith said, pulling his head away.

Krolia sighed. “Go to your room. You won’t be allowed into the training hall until I say so.”

Keith looked at his mother, in surprise and annoyance. Swimming to his room, Keith slammed the door behind him.

Krolia sighed again, rubbing her face with her hands. She didn’t even react to her husband rubbing her shoulders like he was trying to remove the stress.

“I hate having to act like the bad guy. It was never supposed to be like this. When did it get this bad? Oh wait, that’s right, the council took advantage of a young queen.”

“It’s ok.” Her husband, affectionately called Tex, said, trying to calm his wife.

“Is it? Thanks to the Pearl Princess asking questions, the council is going to be more strict with their insane rules to try and fix things. Dear Aqua Regina, how did this happen? And where the hell is she? She should be fixing these things.”

“Hey, listen to me,” Tex said, turning his wife around. “We both know Aqua Regina can’t fix everything. If she could, then Sara destroying her kingdom out of heartbreak would have never happened. It wouldn’t have led Lucia to meeting Kaito and finding her true love. It would not have led Sara to find a kindred spirit she could fall in love with. It would not have led me to you.” Tex pressed a kiss to his wife’s hands, feeling the tension in her body drain away. “The things that happen might be bad, but Aqua Regina has never let her people suffer. She must know that something will happen to change all this.”

Krolia laid her head against her husband’s chest. “How is it you know what to say to calm me?”

“Well, I had to make you fall for me, somehow didn’t I?”

She slapped his arm, causing him to laugh. Krolia took the moment to accept the calm peace.

“It should always be like this. A happy kingdom, not one living in fear of what’ll happen if they break the rules.”

Tex knew what she was thinking of. “What you did that day was what he wanted. I’m not saying he doesn’t miss his kingdom, but he’s happier there.”

“Still, the look on his face when he was caught…that’s something I can’t forget easily.”

* * *

“Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for Lance!”

Lance, tired from his flight and the jetlag, knew he’d be feeling it for the next couple days, but he smiled at the customers and patrons in the restaurant that clapped and cheered for him. He let Adam pull him into a hug, relaxing at the smell of freshly made bagels wafting off the restaurant owner’s clothes. God, he ate on the flight, but he’d easily go for his usual sandwich on a Weiss bagel.

“Congrats Lance. Shiro wanted to be here, but the oven at the inn finally kicked the bucket so he’s been busy calming the guests and making alternatives.” Adam said, finally pulling away, but keeping an arm around Lance’s shoulders as he guided him further into the restaurant and over to the bar, where Hunk was waiting to pull his best friend into another big hug.

“Whoa! Easy big guy, I just got back, don’t damage me.” Lance said, his actions not reflecting his words as he easily hugged his best friend back.

“I thought your sponsor was gonna get you back home before the semester started?”

“They tried, but they couldn’t get me a flight to Cuba that would give me enough time with my family. At most I would have had a few hours before I needed to catch my flight back here.” Lance explained, finally sitting down, which seemed to signal to everyone to come get autographs from the country’s current star.

To distract everyone, Adam called out, “Alright everyone, as promised, free alcoholic drinks and desserts both today and tomorrow. Call over your servers! Which includes me. Here, eat as quickly as you can.” Adam said, putting a plate down in front of Lance.

“Oh god, yes. Not even the breakfast buffet at the hotel could beat this. A BLT on a cinnamon raisin Weiss bagel.”

“I see your taste hasn't changed.” Hunk joked. “So how was Dubai?”

“Great. The surfers I met were pretty cool. A few assholes amongst them, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I know why people go there for vacation, it was amazing. Plus, we got the chance to go on the sand dune. You would have been sick with how much we jumped up and down, but the food at the performance we went to after was so worth it. Oh, also,” Lance pulled his jacket sleeve up to show off a henna tattoo on his wrist, “definitely not like the ones Adam gives us during Diwali, but still cool. Course, I could have done without having to explain it to completely ignorant surfers.”

“I thank you for defending half of my culture.” Adam said.

“Well I was also trying to explain to them that Cuba and Mexico were not the same place so...”   
  
“What are you planning on doing until school starts? And don’t say work here, you’re still recovering from jetlag.” Adam asked.

Lance shrugged. “Surfing I guess. Maybe catch up on all the mermaid forums I haven’t been able to read since I was in Dubai.”

Hunk shook his head. “You mean to say you didn’t see any mermaids in Dubai?” he asked teasingly.

“Mock all you want, but the seas can’t be this big and not have other things living in it. I’ll be honest, the whole theory that we come from mermaids is a bit insane, but I still think mermaids are real. And one day, I’ll prove it. Just watch Hunk, one day I’m gonna come in here holding hands with a person who’s a mermaid walking amongst humans.”

“Sure, and I’m the god of the ocean.”

* * *

Keith went to sleep angry, though he knew why his mother had to punish him. She was right, if he had been caught by the council, it would have been worse, way worse. It wasn’t often he got punished by his mother.

Maybe it was his anger at getting caught and punished, that strung up his dreams and made them nightmares.. He saw figures, men with spiky hair, unidentified female shapes, cruel smiles, a large foreboding castle that moved. He saw a woman with dark hair and cold eyes, a man with grey hair and a cruel smile. A staff with jewels and a strange looking top, and a trident that seemed to emit evil energy. He saw the whole Indian Ocean Kingdom crumbling from some unseen power.

Keith woke with a gasp, breathing deep as he thought about what he’d seen. Keith didn’t get scared easily, but the dream unnerved him. It didn’t help that he knew the weapons he saw in his dreams. Back when Sierra was the leader of the Indian Ocean, she had brought the two last surviving weapons of the Panthalassa to be kept locked away. The council said it was to be a reminder of how they’d fallen, but his mother said the Sierra had been entrusted with them by Aqua Regina and he never heard of the Sea Goddess being cruel. The Staff of Panthalassa and Poseidon’s Trident were kept under lock and key, protected mainly by the Blades. But still, Keith felt this urge to check on them and to make sure they were still there.

The halls were silent as he swam towards the safe room. He stopped when he heard voices though, staying close to the walls.

“The Arctic Princess knows these cursed weapons are here. She questioned if we could keep them safe. She’s looking down on our kingdom!”

Council members. Council members Prorok and Throk from what he could see. The older men with their orange cloaks were never a happy sight to see.

“Pearl Princess Sierra brought shame to our kingdom, bringing these things here. We will never regain our honour and return to Aqua Regina’s favour at this rate!” Prorok said.

“Perhaps if the weapons were destroyed, they wouldn’t seek to question us.”

“We must bring this to the queen. She must know that it’s the only way to bring a better standing to our kingdom again.”

“Can we really trust her?” Throk questioned. “She’s not a Pearl Princess. How do we know she’s doing what’s best for our kingdom?”

Keith was about to teach that council member what happened to those who looked down on their queen, but Prorok’s next words stopped him.

“Watch your words! Pearl Sierra trusted her with the ruling of our kingdom. She was said to have been brought here by Aqua Regina. That’s why she needs to know that these weapons have to be destroyed.”

“Very well. Quickly, before someone hears us and accuses us of trying to usurp the kingdom.”

Keith watched them disappear.

“They might speak for the kingdom, but I don’t trust them for a second.” Keith said to himself, as he looked at the safe room. He went over and found the hidden panel to open the door. He swam into the large room, the door closing ominously behind him. He hadn’t been in this room since he was a guppy, his mother explaining to him the duty their kingdom had was safeguarding the weapons, making sure they didn’t fall into the wrong hands. It had been scary to him as a child, being in the same room with such raw power. Honestly, it was still scary now.

In the safe room, the weapons were contained separately, to keep them from feeding off each other. He opened one door and looked inside to see the Staff of Panthalassa inside its case. He got as close as he felt it safe to, gazing at the jewel encrusted staff. It was still and silent, not radiating power. It seemed quiet; like it knew it wouldn’t be needed. Keith swam out, closing the door behind him before hesitating. The Staff was known to be powerful in the hands of a Panthalassa but it was the Trident that was a bit more terrifying. It had been created to suck the energy out of mers, similar to a dark creature using its voice to weaken mers, but worse. It would usually take an extremely dark song to hurt a mer as quickly as the Trident did. It had been known to kill mers by taking their energy and giving it to the Panthalassa holding it. Compared to the Staff, Keith could feel the evil energy wafting off of it. The Trident shuddered as Keith swam closer.

He knew he shouldn't have, but Keith swam closer. The Trident vibrated stronger, the closer he got. He should have turned away then, but the closer he got, the less his body seemed to listen to him. He pulled the door of the case open and stretched out his hand, brushing his fingers over the rod.

With a flash, there was a pulse of energy that was emitted from the Trident. It shook the room, the whole castle. Keith snapped out of whatever daze he had been in and he felt his body being filled with something.

“Ah! Wh-what happened?” He sunk to the ground, crossing his arms over his body, feeling like it was the only way to stop whatever was in him now from escaping. It was like he was suddenly filled with energy.

Energy. The Trident stole energy from mers and gave it to the Panthalassa holding it. Mers couldn’t even steal it because it would drain them. If that was true, then why was Keith filled with energy instead of being weak from loss of it?

Keith looked up at the shaking roof and remembered his dream. The Kingdom coming crumbling down, the Trident glowing. Was it a vision? Was this planned?

“Check the weapons!”

Prorok. Keith moved, feeling odd, hot and jittery, but knowing he couldn’t go out the door.

“We need to check on my son! The weapons can wait, the Blades are on their way.”

His mother. Oh Poseidon. If he left and his mother found out he’d somehow absorbed energy from the Trident, what would she do? Nothing, he knew she loved him but the council was different. They would kill him. They could terminate his mother’s rule and kill them both. They were all so obsessed with making the Indian Ocean Kingdom so perfect. What would happen now that he didn’t fit their image of perfection.

He swam to the door, making sure the door to the Trident was closed, before he got to the main door. He didn’t hear voices and took the chance of cracking the door open and looking outside. It was empty, no doubt the council members following his mother to his room. His room wasn’t that far from the safe room, he had to move quickly. If they found him, his parents would be in trouble. The whole Kingdom would be in trouble. He swam out the closest window heading for clear water to get as far away from his home as possible, to keep them safe. Even as he swam quickly, leaving a trail of bubbles in his path, he could feel that power inside him, looking for a way out. Keith needed to think quickly. Where could he go that his family wouldn’t think to find him? Not any of the other kingdoms, the royal members would feel obligated to let his parents know where he was. Nor were the land countries safe, any mers hiding on land would know who he was. He needed help, but not from anywhere close. That’s when it came to him. Someone he could trust and somewhere they wouldn’t think to look for him, most likely.

“Shiro. Oh gods, please let him still be in Altea.”

Keith didn’t pay attention to how long he swam, though he could feel the strain in his tail. Strands of his white hair were pushed from his face and he felt his desperation more keenly. The power or whatever his body had absorbed was pushing harder and harder to get out. He’d reached the North Atlantic, closer to where Altea was located when the feeling finally became too much. Keith stopped swimming, closing himself in, trying desperately to hold it in, but he couldn’t anymore. With a cry, he felt it all leave him in a physical blast. When the power was gone, Keith felt weak and empty, but so, so happy the odd feeling the power had brought was gone. Then he heard a sound he had only heard at a surf competition. The sound of a body falling into the water as they wiped out. He looked up from where he was in panic, thinking whatever happened had turned over a boat or something. Instead, he saw a body sinking down, a surfboard rising back up to the top, and Keith just caught a glimpse of a mermaid sticker.

“Oh no! Shit, shit, shit!” Even feeling as weak as he was, he quickly swam to the person, a young man with brown hair and dark skin. Bubbles were escaping his mouth. “Oh gods, no, no!”

Mers weren’t supposed to interact with humans unless they were hiding on land. A long time ago, a mer with a human lover had discovered a way for their lover to breath underwater. A scale from the tail, pulled off with good intentions and pressed against the human’s lips would allow them to breath underwater. Keith pulled one of his bigger scales near the base of his tail and wrapped his arms around the human. He pressed the scale to the human’s parted lips, and waited, praying to Aqua Regina and every spirit of the ocean that it would work. The human took a breath, not seeming to inhale any water and his eyes twitched before slipping open.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, I’m so sorry.”

The human stared at him, his mouth opening like he wanted to ask a question.

“No. The scale needs to stay on your lips, don’t talk ok?” Keith then heard the humming of a boat engine, no doubt looking for the human. He guided the human’s hand to hold the scale in place and began to swim him towards the surface. He got as close as he could without being seen then pushed the human upward. Keith was thankful that he seemed to be able to kick his way to the surface. He waited until the human disappeared from the water completely before swimming off. Whatever was happening to him was capable of hurting humans and affecting the sea. He needed to find Shiro, fast.

* * *

Lance coughed up what felt like half the sea, the burning in his throat a reminder that he was alive. He turned to his side, trying not to choke, feeling someone rub their hand on his back. His blurry vision saw the yellow and red of the lifeguard’s uniform.

“Got his board. He’s lucky it’s not cracked. How’s he doing?”

“Breathing and awake. Hey kid, what’s your name?”

“Lance McClain.” He rasped, coughing more.

“The date and name of our president?”

“August 29 X19 and Allura Fara Juniberry.”

“I mean, technically speaking she’s still waiting to be inaugurated, but close enough. Alright, I want you to press your toes down for me, I need to make sure your spine is ok.” Feeling a hand against his foot, Lance pressed down. “Alright. We’re still gonna stabilize your neck. Let’s get you on your back slowly. That’s right. Easy. Whoa, big scale.”

“Scale?” Lance asked, his eyes closed against the sun’s bright rays. He felt something pressed into his hand.

“It came up with you. I think you were holding it. Just a sec, gonna get this neck brace on you and we’ll wipe you down ok?”

Lance lifted his filled hand and cracked his eyes open to look at what was in his hand. In it was a scale, much bigger than what would be on a fish. It was the size of a small seashell and it was red in colour. He knew that colour. The…mermaid that had saved him, had the same red colour in their eyes. He closed his eyes again, letting his arm drop onto his stomach trying to go over what he’d seen. The wave he’d been surfing on had risen and then disappeared from underneath his board, causing him to crash into the water. The wind was knocked out of him and he couldn’t breathe properly. He was so sure he was going to drown, and when he felt like he could breathe normally again he had heard the sound of someone apologizing to him. He’d cracked open his eyes to see a face looking at him. The dark coloured eyes, white, longish hair and the feeling of a scaled body against his legs. He’d swam past enough fish to know what that felt like. The scale against lips made it all the more obvious. He had heard the theory of how mermaids could give their scales to allow a human to breath. That one had never seemed real to him, compared to a spell or something along those lines, but it had obviously worked. He let the lifeguard manhandle him, as he tried to make sense of everything he’d experienced.

Mermaids were real. One had saved him. He wished he’d had the chance to say thank you.

* * *

“Is he ok? I mean, waves don’t really do that.” Takashi ‘Shiro’ Weiss, formerly Takashi Shirogane said as he moved around the inn’s kitchen with ease, as he made lunch for his guests. He’d been moving around at the speed of light in his kitchen when Adam called to let him know Lance had almost drowned while surfing due to a wave deciding to drop out from right under him.

Shiro knew the ocean. He should, seeing how it was his home for almost his whole life, until he met Adam in India and his whole life changed. His kingdom, his home of the Indian Ocean Kingdom, was a bit strict in where their people could go, and above land was forbidden. Falling for a human wasn’t even an option. But he’d done it, he’d met Adam and fallen hard. The queen had been forced to make a hard decision, but Shiro knew Queen Krolia hadn’t wanted him to leave. He missed the Indian Ocean but life with Adam, it was worth it. He wished he could see his friends and family though. They weren’t allowed to come to visit him so he’d have to live with his memories until they all met again.

“Shiro.” The doors to the kitchen opened and Pidge poked her head in. “Um, there’s someone here to see you? I don’t know if I trust him though, he looks like a hobo.”

“What?”

“Well his clothes are big on him... Have you been giving food to the guys living on the beach?”

“Pidge, you do realise they don’t live on the beach by choice, right? Adam, hold on.” Shiro handed Pidge a large bowl of salad and ordered her to put it out in the dining room while he went to see who came to him. Who was waiting there was the last person he had expected.

“Keith?” Standing there in clothes that were much too big for him, his hair now black instead of white – similar to how his went from black and white to silvery white when he regained his tail – was Keith, looking scared. “Adam, I need to call you back.” He didn’t bother listening to his husband ask his string of questions, he just hung up. Then he swept Keith up into a tight hug. “What are you doing here?”

“What? No, ‘I missed you’?” Keith joked, but Shiro could tell something was bothering him. He knew Keith occasionally would push the rules to go see the surfers, but this was different.

He pulled away from Keith to take a good look at him. His face was pale and he looked exhausted, like he’d been swimming all day. He also looked frazzled and worried. And scared. He’d never seen Keith scared, not even when he had been brought up in front of the whole kingdom for falling in love with a human. Worried yes, but never scared, not like this.

“Keith, what’s wrong? What are you doing here?”

Keith seemed barely able to get the words out. This wasn’t like Keith, he wasn’t one to be at a loss for words. He’d always said whatever was on his mind.

“Shiro, something happened. Something bad.”

“What is it? Did the council throw you out or something?”

Keith shook his head. “But they will when they find out what’s going on.”

He was getting worried. “Pidge!” He called, waiting for the young woman to come in from the dining room. “I need to take care of something, keep the customers happy. Try not to insult anyone,please ? I don’t want another incident.” Without waiting for an answer, he pulled Keith down the hall to his room. He sat Keith down on his bed and after making sure the door was locked, he kneeled in front of Keith, taking hold of his hands. He used to do this when Keith was upset about something and he would try to drag it out of him. “What’s wrong?”

Keith took a deep breath. “I went to Dubai to go see a surfing competition, but I didn’t get back in time before my mom found out. The Pearl Princess of the Arctic Ocean was visiting and hearing how some of her attendants thought the Indian Kingdom was a joke pissed me off, but it also put my mom in a lot of trouble. She pretty much was forced to punish me, and I was upset, so I went to sleep angry. I guess it gave me weird nightmares because all I could see were these shapes of humans. But I could see their smirks and evil eyes. I think they were Panthalassa. They were known for their spiky hair, right? That’s what they had...”

“I don’t think nightmares would have brought you all the way here.”

“No, it’s what happened after. I also kept seeing the weapons in my dream, and when I woke up, I got worried. So I went to go check them out. When I got there, some of the council members were complaining about what the princess said. They said the kingdom should destroy the weapons as a show of power, expect they knew my mom wouldn’t go for it so they had to ask permission. So, I went to go check on the weapons.

“The Staff was silent, didn’t even move or react so then I went to check up on Poseidon’s Trident. I don’t know what happened or how it even came over me, but suddenly I felt this urge to touch it. It was emitting this evil power and I got sucked in.”

“But wait, if you did touch it, then you should have been knocked out. The Trident takes a mers power.” Shiro pointed out.

“I know, but it didn’t. I touched it and I-I…I felt myself be filled with this overpowering feeling. Like all the power the Trident had been holding onto since it was taken from the Panthalassa filled me. It felt like it was trying to break through my whole body, rip it to shreds. I barely could keep it in me. Then I realised that the release of the power was shaking the whole palace, maybe even affecting the whole kingdom. I heard the council and my mother outside the door and knew if I didn’t get out of there, they’d kill me and my mother. I got out as soon as mom convinced them they needed to check on me first. They left and I just started swimming. I was close to here, when all that power finally escaped. It must have messed with the ocean, because the next thing I knew, there was this surfer sinking. I barely saved him in time.”

Surfer? Messed with the ocean? “What did this surfer look like?” Shiro asked, a little scared about the answer.

“I don’t know. Brown hair, he was wearing board shorts instead of a wetsuit. His board had a sticker of a mermaid on it.” Keith stared at him. “You know him, don’t you?” Shiro nodded. “Oh gods below! This is a disaster. I almost killed a human. There’s something wrong with me because there’s no way I could have touched the Trident and not fainted. I know I was never a Pearl Prince, but this is so much worse. Shiro, what’s happening to me?”

“Hey, hey. Keith calm down and listen to me ok? There is nothing wrong with you ok? What happened to Lance was an accident. I was just talking to Adam, my husband. He said Lance is fine. I don’t know why you absorbed the energy, but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, ok? Everything will be alright? I’ll be here to help, I promise.”

Keith wrapped his arms around Shiro, hiding his face in his neck. “Can I stay here please?”

“Of course. It’ll be alright, I promise.” Shiro promised.

He didn’t know what was going on or how Keith even survived touching the Trident, but he’d keep his promise. He wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Keith.


	3. Adopting a mer, technically

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to go up yesterday but I got really sleepy and passed out early. Please enjoy.

Adam walked into the Lion Seaside Inn, holding the door open for a group of guests leaving with their bags. He was a bit surprised to see Pidge come barrelling through with a large sign that Adam would normally use to entice guests to come to the Weiss Beach Café.

“What’s going on?”

“Shiro is sending guests home early. Something about the oven not coming on time and a family emergency. I don’t know. All I know is that I don’t have to come to work for the next week.”

Shiro, sending guests home early? That wasn’t like him. The last time he did that was because a pipe burst on the main floor, and all the water had put him at risk of changing into a merman in front of people. It had been interesting moving a mer-Shiro around on an electric hovering bellman cart though.

“I know we have to leave early, but we had such a great time here in Altea. It’s a shame more people don’t know about it.” One of the guests at the desk told Shiro.

Giving them that hundred watt smile, Shiro replied, “I’m glad you enjoyed your time here. Hopefully, we’ll see you again.”

“Hey babe.” Adam said heading behind the desk and pressing a kiss onto his husband’s cheek. “Everything ok?”

Shiro didn’t answer until the guests at the desk left. “Not exactly. Kind of. Pidge,” he called to the girl coming in. “Check the last guests out and lock up when you're done.” With instructions given, Shiro pulled Adam down the hall to their room, but stopped right at the door. “Ok, so you know how I said that the Queen was forced into the position of telling me to leave?”

“Yeah, because the council forced it on her right? Why, what’s going on?”

“Well her son’s always been a friend of mine, and guess who appeared in the dining room when I was talking to you earlier?”

Adam furrowed his brow. “You don’t mean…?”

Shiro opened the door to their room. The lights were off and the curtains were mostly closed, allowing just enough light in for Adam to see a kid – though he could guess he was about as old as Lance – asleep under the covers. He looked peaceful, but Adam could see the slightly swollen eyes.

“This is Keith, and before he went to sleep, he was crying, terrified over what would happen to him.”

“Shiro, what’s going on?”

Shiro closed the door and brought Adam out to the backyard, sitting him at one the tables. “The Indian Ocean Kingdom is in charge of looking after the last two weapons of the Panthalassa. Some think it’s supposed to be a reminder of how our last two rulers hurt the kingdom, one by actually destroying it and another by sympathising with the enemy. I never believed that. I think that Aqua Regina asked Pearl Princess Sierra to look after them. Point is, they’re dangerous weapons. One of them is called Poseidon’s Trident. It's used to drain mers of their energy and power. It was one of the hardest weapons to get away from them because even holding it for a moment causes a mer to lose their energy. Thankfully, mers who have tails similar to other sea creatures, had a much better chance of holding it for longer. So, they were able to take it before Aqua Regina had to kill the clan.”

“Remind me again why she did that?” Adam asked.

“It’s not like she goes and smites every group edging for power. These guys had beaten a much more powerful enemy, and wanted to prove they could take over the whole ocean. Those weapons were proof of that. She gave them the choice to stand down, but they chose to fight back and try and kill her. I’m not saying it was the best choice but for the sake of protecting the oceans, she had no other choice. I’m getting off topic though. Keith had gotten in trouble for going to the surface to watch surfers and went to sleep angry. He had a nightmare. He said it was like he’d seen the Panthalassa and what their weapons could do on the kingdom. He got worried and went to go check on them. The Staff was fine, but it was the Trident that caused issues.”

“What do you mean? Did someone from the council do something? Did it start draining him?”

Shiro shook his head. “Keith said that the Trident was still releasing power, so heavy you could feel it pressing down on you. He fell into a... I don’t know, a trance and started approaching it. He opened the case and touched it. But he didn’t lose energy. He gained it.”

“Gained it? But you said if a mer touches it, they’d lose energy. So then…? Wait, where does the stolen energy go?”

“To the Panthalassa that’s holding the Trident. If any Panthalassa were to touch the trident, they would absorb all the energy it’s been holding. All that energy, the power that mers have of the ocean, all released at once?”

Adam could tell Shiro was trying to get to something. He tried to think. He’d seen Shiro’s power over water, to control it, freeze it, evaporate it with heat, and even change its consistency. He knew that like an octopus hiding from its enemy, he could become invisible, move things with his mind and change water pressure. Honestly, mers were the most powerful beings in the sea. Shiro said that water worked with him, but when Shiro got angry, really angry, any liquid would follow his will. If he had all the power of every mer, the things he could do to the sea would be unexplainable.

Like what happened with Lance’s wave. He’d seen it himself, standing on the restaurant's deck. They watched one of the biggest waves appear, and their country’s best surfer had caught it. And then, just as quickly as it rose, it just flopped. He’d never seen anything like it, nothing like that was natural.

“What happened to Lance today, with the wave?”

Shiro nodded. “He’d been holding in that power, just knowing that if it was released, it would destroy the castle or the kingdom. I guess it could compare to what Pearl Princess Sara did, when the council had manipulated her love life, so she wouldn’t go to the surface. Her anger destroyed the whole kingdom and caused a huge upset in the ocean. Tsunamis and such. He swam for two straight days, keeping it locked inside. He just happened to be near when he couldn’t hold it anymore. When he realised what it did to Lance though, he saved him.”

Adam sat there, absorbing everything. He’d always wanted to meet Shiro’s family and friends. He’d been surprised when Shiro mentioned wanting to introduce him to the prince. But not long after they made plans, when Adam had been so close to moving his whole life to India just to be with Shiro, they’d been caught. Shiro was forced to leave. Adam felt guilty about forcing Shiro to live a life above water, but with how their relationship grew after; he couldn’t regret it. The sea was Shiro’s home and he knew that if anyone he’d known before came to Shiro for help, he’d offer it. 

The stories of the Panthalassa had scared him. Knowing that creatures from the sea tried to control the ocean, had caused problems for mers even after many thought they were gone. With all the hate and fear, he couldn’t blame Keith for leaving the Indian Ocean. According to Shiro, Keith should have been knocked out, but he absorbed that energy instead.

“Is Keith a Panthalassa?” Adam asked.

Shiro shrugged, “Male Panthalassas are known for spiky hair. As far as I know, Keith’s hair has been long since he was a guppy. His father looks like him and so does his mother. I don’t know why this happened. I just know that Keith is in danger if they find out.”

“What if they come looking for us here?”

“I only ever told Keith where I was going. It will take them a long while to track him, to be honest. If it’s ok that he stays here of course.”

Adam sighed, shaking his head with a smile, “You know, when I said I wanted us to eventually adopt kids, this isn’t exactly what I was talking about.”

“Come on, half the work is over.”

“Except, now we have to teach him about the human world. Remember when I had to do that for you?”

Shiro felt his face get red as he remembered Adam having to literally hold his hand throughout the whole process of learning how to live on land. Poseidon knows how many times he almost gave himself away.

“At least you get the child care factor?”

Adam burst out laughing. “Silly fishy. He can stay here, I wouldn’t dream of throwing him out. It’ll be hard, but we’ll make it work.”

“Thank you, Adam.”

“No need to thank me. I love you, remember?”

“Love you too.”

* * *

When Keith woke up, he expected to be in his room, his soft lounge bed just directly under the skylight. Big enough to let the small bits of sun that passed through the waters wake him up. Kosmo, no doubt coming in through the window, poking his nose at him to get up; or even his mother dragging him out of bed so he could at least eat with his family before duty pulled them all apart for the day. Instead he was in a room he barely remembered, on something that didn’t feel like a kelp filled bed. He was also really warm, probably because of the thing on top of him. He sat up, feeling confused when his bottom half didn’t move the way he was used to. Pushing the coloured thing aside, he saw legs in place of a tail and things finally became clear.

He was in Altea. He’d somehow managed to find Shiro.. All because of the Trident and what had happened when he touched it. He should have passed out, but instead…he absorbed the power. That power almost brought the whole kingdom down. It almost caused that surfer, the one with the board he recognised, to drown. There was something wrong with him, there had to be. There was no way he was …a Panthalassa. There just couldn’t be. His parents were mers. He was the prince of the Indian Ocean. But, he wasn’t a Pearl Prince. Pearls in the hands of Panthalassa were dangerous. What if…? Gods below, he didn’t even want to think about it. Keith hid his face in his hands, wanting to wake up from this bad dream.

“Keith?” he pulled his hands away to see Shiro standing in the doorway. He hadn’t even heard the door open.

“Shiro.” He said, the stress he was feeling clear in his voice.

Shiro walked over to Keith and sat down near him, giving him a patient look. Keith was surprised with how much he missed seeing that.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“I’m scared. I keep thinking about what happened. How that power surge almost brought the kingdom down. The fact that it even happened in the first place...”

“I know it’s scary, but it’s over now, ok? I know leaving the kingdom never seemed like a thing that would happen, but you’re safer here, ok? I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“What about the council?”

“The Indian Ocean is their domain, this is mine. They put me here, so if they even try to mess with you, they’ll have to deal with me, ok?”

Keith nodded. He was still terrified, but he knew he made the right choice coming to Shiro. He could trust him.

“Good, now, there’s someone I need to introduce you to. I’ve been wanting you guys to meet for a while. So please, behave.”

And there was Shiro; always begging him to at least pretend to act like the prince he was. He followed Shiro out of the room, finally noticing how his legs were aching. Shiro must have noticed him wincing.

“I’m actually surprised you weren’t more dead on your feet. I know it took hours for my legs to stop hurting when I gained legs for the first time. I’ve got a heating pad you can use. Ice would only give you your tail again.”

He followed Shiro out the hall and to the backyard. The sun wasn’t as bright as before, just starting its descent but the breeze was still warm. Sitting on a lounge chair was a man with ashy brown hair. When he heard the two approaching, he turned to see them, a small smile growing on his face.

“You must be Keith. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Adam.” The guy said, standing up and approaching Keith.

Adam, the guy Shiro had left for. “Nice to meet you.” He seemed nice enough. And the fact that Shiro was still with him had to mean something.

“Are you hungry? I have to head back to the restaurant soon.”

“Restaurant?”

“Yeah. Shiro owns the Lion Seaside Inn here, and I own the Weiss Beach Café.”

Keith looked at Shiro, “You own a business?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I helped my father with his jewellery business.”

“You helped out at the shop. Clearly humans must be less aggressive than mers.You used to fold like seaweed in a current when they would try haggling.”

Adam couldn’t help laughing at the two of them. Shiro had mentioned they were like brothers, but it was clear based on their banter just how true that statement was.

“Why doesn’t Shiro help you get settled in, and I’ll just grab us something to eat?” Adam suggested, when he realised Shiro and Keith weren’t going to stop anytime soon. Besides, he had a feeling that Keith was going to need some more time before throwing him into a room full of humans.

“Um,” suddenly Keith had gone from snarky boy arguing with his brother to a quiet, meek person. Adam hoped once he felt more comfortable, he would start acting a little less meek. It didn’t suit him. “I don’t know what Shiro told you about why I’m here but I…”

“Hey, you don’t need to worry about anything, ok? You’re with family now got it? Don’t think you’re causing any problems.”

“Got it.”

“Good, now, I hope we don’t find out you're allergic to wheat flour. I’d die if you couldn’t try one of my family’s bagels.”

“What’s a bagel?”

“It’s heaven, just you wait.”

It was heaven. Keith was eating the seafood bagel from Adam’s restaurant. It had been Adam’s suggestion, so they didn’t give him anything he was allergic to. Shiro had found out he was allergic to mushrooms and pumpkin.

“It makes my mom pretty sad when she can’t add pumpkin to his roti dishes. Granted, he devours everything else, but her pumpkin dishes are always a crowd pleaser.” Adam explained.

“Roti, that sounds familiar. Isn’t that an Indian dish?”

“Pretty much. My mom is Indian and dad’s Dutch. Not that it matters here in Altea. People come from all over to live here, so judging people based on where they’re from isn’t a thing that happens too often. Everyone’s culture is important here.”

“Our kingdom doesn’t really follow land traditions. During celebrations though, the female mers wear head covers, kinda like a veil.”

“Oh, you mean a dupatta? Usually, you only see those in weddings, but I guess it works. Just wait until my mom meets you though, she's gonna wanna stuff you with food.”

Keith couldn’t help but think about his mother, and how any new recruit to the Blades would be given a welcoming fight by her. Queen she might be, but helpless she was not. She could kick the fins of the whole group. She had done it. Multiple times.

“How did the two of you meet anyway?” Keith asked.

“I never told you, did I? I met Adam when he was visiting family in India for a wedding.” Shiro said.

“There was this beach cove, not far from where the venue was. I went to go take some pictures. Someone told me there was a spirit living there, of a person who drowned or something because they kept hearing singing.” Adam continued.

Keith gave Shiro a look. “And you would yell at me for going up to see surf competitions.”

Adam laughed. “Well, you probably had a way easier time not being seen. This guy was chilling on a rock, stereotypical mermaid, just singing away. I gasped, he heard, looked at me and said, and I quote, ‘Oh, kraken tentacles.’”

“Yeah, some human language has come down to us, but he still refuses to curse.” Keith pointed out.

“He does say ‘Gods below’ a lot, so I guess he hasn’t changed. But continuing on how we met, I didn’t tell my family obviously. It was a mermaid. I had grown up on the original fairy tales of the ‘Little mermaid’. You tell a human you’re a mermaid and you’ll turn to sea foam. So I never said anything but I kept coming back whenever I had time. Eventually I saw him again and told him I meant no harm. Wouldn’t let me come close, he’d go underwater if I got too close and I wasn’t the best swimmer then. So I just started talking.”

“I knew I would get in trouble,” Shiro continued, “if word got out that I interacted with a human but for some reason, even though I knew the rules, I kept coming back. And he kept telling me things, like how his day was going, and about his life and before I knew it, I stopped hiding.”

“And the two of you fell in love.” Keith filled in.

“It’s not like it was planned. I knew what would happen if word got out. I explained it to Adam and he was sure that after the wedding, things would just end there. But, love doesn’t really work like that.” Shiro explained.

“My family used the wedding as an excuse to spend more time together, and try to find me a wife or at the very least a respectable gay guy, but whatever. I thought I was leaving, when I found out we’d be staying for longer and I got so excited. I rushed to tell Shiro and…” Adam trailed off, looking at his husband.

“I realised, I didn’t want him to go.”

Keith had always felt this small bit of resentment that Shiro decided that he wanted to stay with a human more than with his family. But watching the two of them interact, he couldn’t really be mad. He’d seen his parents, how his strong mother would melt from a simple kiss from his father. When it came to love, nothing else mattered.

“After Shiro, um, left the Indian Ocean Kingdom, I told my parents I wanted to go sailing around for a while before meeting them back in Altea, so that’s what we did. I had to learn how to swim though, you mers move fast.”

“You always said you wanted to go see the other kingdoms.” Keith said to Shiro, “Did you?”

“A bit. I wasn’t sure if word had gotten around, so I mostly stuck to interacting with mer pods. A few of them wanted nothing to do with me when I told them why I left the Indian Ocean, but thankfully, others were more accepting. Actually, we need to show you something. You’re gonna love it.” Shiro said, standing up and gesturing for Keith to follow him.

“I thought you would have shown him already.” Adam said, picking up the plates with practised ease.

“Shown me what?”

“Well, I can’t exactly go jumping into the water off the dock. People always pass by the inn and the waves are pretty good for surfers near here, so I needed another way to get in. Thankfully, this building has a few secrets.”

Shiro led them past the dining room, where Adam dropped their plates in the pick up area and followed them to the office.

“Apparently, there’s an old story that the owner of this building, back when it had just been a house, had a secret. He would allow mermaids to come rest here.”

“Which connects to the story about the isle about a half an hour boat ride from here.” Adam mentioned.

Shiro walked up to the bookshelf and pulled a book with a turtle on the spine out. With a clicking noise, the shelf swung in, revealing a hidden passageway. Keith’s curiosity grew, and he followed Shiro down the passageway. It wasn’t dark or musty, there were motion sensing lights that came on as they walked down the hallway and the only thing Keith could smell was seawater. The path split in two and Shiro went down the brightly lit area. The light came from a room filled with collectables. Anything that could have been found in the sea was there. Old chests, old pictures, a wheel from an old ship, worn out nets. Not to mention the many jewellery pieces made with seashells, sand dollars and dead coral.

“You're still making jewellery?” Keith asked, walking down the steps to a low couch near a low table, covered in familiar tools with half finished crowns. Shiro’s parents were amazing jewelers. The crown Keith wore for special occasions had been crafted by them.

“I mean, it doesn't have the same under the sea charm, but they sell really well at festivals and such.”

“This place is amazing.” Keith said, looking around and taking everything in. He focused on the worn net, there were pictures hanging on it. He looked closely at the pictures of Shiro and Adam, Shiro’s white hair shining in the sun, matching smiles to match the rings on their fingers. “Wait a second, the stones on your rings- are those moon stones?”

Moon stones were as close to a Pearl created by Aqua Regina as a mer could get. Pods had rings crafted as a way of bringing Aqua Regina with them on their nomadic travels. In the kingdoms, the Pearl Royals at their coming of age ceremonies would have crowns fashioned out of them. At Keith’s coming of age ceremony, he’d only had a small one inlayed on the dagger his parents gave to him.

“Yeah.” Shiro said, showing his ring, the blue of the moon stone shining in the lights. “One of the mer pods we met gave them to us. They said just because I decided my love belonged to someone above water, didn’t mean Aqua Regina didn’t bless it.”

“I mean, ever since I started wearing it, I know when this one is in trouble. Not often, but often enough.” Adam said.

Shiro stuck his tongue out at Adam like a child. “Leave me alone. Come on Keith, this isn’t even the best part.”

Keith went back up the stairs and followed Shiro down the other path to where a natural pool sat. Keith noticed that the water was moving and saw an opening on the other side.

“Welcome to your access to the sea. The isle I mentioned earlier apparently is a rejuvenation area?” Adam tried explaining.

“Not a rejuvenation area.” Shiro stopped.

“That’s how you described it to me.”

“It’s a moon pool. Mer pods stay there during full moons because they believe it’s the best time to pray to Aqua Regina.”

“Are you serious? I’ve never even been to one of those.” Keith said.

“Well now you get the chance. You can come down here whenever you want. Like I said, I know things are gonna be hard, but it’ll work out. We promise.”

Things were going to be hard. Even with everything happening, Keith could still feel that fear in the back of his mind. Fixated on what happened and what it meant, but it felt slightly less terrifying with Shiro and Adam around. Now if only he could convince his head of that.


	4. The mer prince finally meets the surfer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to update. I swear I'm not usually this bad with remembering when to update but I feel like because I've been focusing on working on ML OTP months and BNHA bang stuff, it keeps slipping my mind. I've been trying to do it every Sunday, so hopefully I'll be better. Also this is the chapter that my artist, Mimi drew a scene from, that you can look at [here.](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAl7tVFg2fA/?igshid=1qbbwpq5ospbp) Please remember not to repost her work, she worked hard to work on it.

Keith knew he was being stupid, staring at the water from his seat at the edge of the hidden pool under the Lion Seaside Inn. He was a mer for Poseidon sake, he was born in the water, it was his home.

Then why was he so scared to get into the water?

He knew why he was scared, but he couldn’t accept it. He was scared that the odd and horrible power the Trident had filled him with would come back if he went into the water. That it would try and rip him apart, again. That it would destroy the one place he felt safe currently. He never wanted to feel like that again, so his mind played him, saying that if he avoided the water he wouldn’t ever feel like that again. He’d been so in his head he didn’t see Shiro coming in.

Shiro was worried about Keith. For as long as he had known Keith, his mornings had been spent swimming with the current, before returning home. But he hadn’t seen Keith so much as dip his toe into the sea since he had come to Altea. Baths were no problem. Keith came to enjoy the large bathtub in the bathrooms, especially since he stole Shiro’s bubble maker. But the sea, a place that was his home, he hadn’t touched. Shiro could only guess why. What happened to Keith, to make him leave the Indian Ocean Kingdom, was scary and the fact they didn’t know why it was happening was even worse. It’s one thing to grow up on the stories of the Panthalassa. It’s another to think you might be one and might not have known. If the council found out, Keith wouldn’t be allowed to live. The Queen would be usurped if she’d known and kept it a secret. There were a lot of factors to this secret. “Keith?”

Keith looked over at Shiro, before looking back at the water. “I’m the prince of an entire mer kingdom and I’m too scared to go into the water. I’m a joke.”

“You’re not a joke. You have every right to be scared. We grew up on the stories of the Panthalassa and what they’ve done. We grew up on that fear. After I was banished, part of me kept thinking about Sara, the Pearl Princess who destroyed the kingdom long ago? She only did that because her council took matters into their own hands. If Aqua Regina had seen only bad things happening with her relationship with the human, she would have given a sign. A Panthalassa found her and took care of her. She started to love again and decided she would stay with him till the very end. Pearl Princess Sierra might have been captured by the enemy, but she also got to know him. She wouldn’t have sympathized with him without a good reason. He kept hurting her friends and she stopped him as much as she could. Clearly there’s something that was good about him for her to feel sorry. The council has decided that they make the decisions about what’s right for us, but they’re wrong. Your mother knew that when she had to send me away. If you are Panthalassa, I don’t think she cared. You are her son and that’s all that mattered.”

Keith didn’t doubt his mother, that his parents loved him. He knew he could depend on them for anything. He also knew the council was evil to the core, but that still didn’t help his fear of getting into the water. All he knew was that this fear, as irrational as it was, was going to haunt him.

Shiro could see he wasn’t getting through to Keith so he decided to change the subject. “How about you head out with Adam? He’s going to go check on the restaurant, and then he’s going grocery shopping for the Inn and the Cafe. I know you haven’t exactly gotten the chance to interact with many humans, but with the Inn closed still, the Cafe would be the perfect place to start. You can stay seated at the bar, everyone usually goes for the tables out on the deck or near the entrance and people watch. It’ll be just like when you go to the surface to watch them surf. Just don’t start following behind them, can’t have them thinking you're a complete weirdo.”

“I’m supposed to be related to you, aren’t I?” Keith teased. “Are you even sure this is a good idea?”

“It’ll get you out of the Inn and interacting with people. This isn’t like the kingdom, humans are different from mers, it’ll give you a chance to see that for yourself.”

Keith sighed. Shiro did have a good point. “Alright.”

* * *

Lance stared at the red scale. Since he’d been rescued, Hunk insisted he rest up in the dorms, enjoying the quiet before people started moving back in for the school year. Lance rested for 2 days, before he started getting stir crazy. In that time, he tried looking up more info about mer scales. He’d found a few blogs talking about breathing with a mermaid’s scale, how after the first breath, all a person needed to do was have the scale on them to continue breathing without trouble. He kept thinking about those red and purple eyes staring at him as they saved his life.

For as long as he could remember, Lance had been fascinated by mermaids. The Little Mermaid held a special place in his heart. His parents had given him a book on legends of mermaids, as a birthday present and Lance couldn’t pull his nose out of it for weeks. It was probably a little weird that he was majoring in marine biology to fulfil some childhood dream of finding mermaids, but he couldn’t help himself. He always had a small hope that he’d find a mermaid. Meeting one as they saved him from drowning had never been in his fantasies, yet it had happened. White hair that seemed to glow in the water, red eyes with hints of purple in them, and a tail that was such a dark orange, it looked red in the sunlight. Lance had used a nail and all the care in the world to make a hole at the top of the scale; big enough to string cord into it to make a necklace out of it. Logic told him it had to be from a fish that passed by him, but Lance knew it couldn’t be that. The sudden drop of the wave took him by surprise, he didn’t have enough time to take a breath. He was sinking in the water and something pushed him up to the surface so he could be saved. It was a mermaid, a merman to be more exact.

Of course it would be his luck that the first time he met a merman, he’s drowning.

Classes started on Monday and if Lance had to eat another microwaved meal so he could stay and ‘rest’ he was going to lose his mind. He put on his shoes, already going through his favourites of what he would eat at the Weiss Beach Cafe. He hoped Hunk had been busy packing his things to move back in. He loved his best friend, he really did, but there was so much coddling he could put up with.

His walk over had him walking near the beach, the waves calling him to come back in. Maybe if he did, he’d see that merman again. His hand went to the scale, like he was trying to make sure it was real. The doors to the Beach Cafe were open, allowing customers to come in and out with ease. Adam was his usual whirlwind self behind the bar, making drinks and accepting orders to pass to waiters. The bar was pretty empty, most of the patrons taking advantage of the large deck and tables in the sun to dry off from time on the beach. There was one patron who caught his attention. From the back, he could see their black hair was in a mullet, something he never thought he’d see on Altea.

“Lance! Hey, you’re ok!” Adam called from his spot. The guy at the bar turned to see him and Lance stilled.

Red eyes with purple in them. The same eyes as the merman who saved him. Just imagining the hair as white put everything into perspective. He’d hoped he’d see the merman again, but he didn’t think it would be that easy.

Lance bit his tongue from saying anything because judging from the look on the guy’s face and the fact that he refused to look at him, he recognised him too.

“Um, Lance, this is Keith. He’s Shiro’s younger brother.”

Lance had always assumed he was making wild accusations when he would think Shiro was a merman. He was never seen in water, but Adam mentioned how much they went swimming. Could avoid getting hit by water like a pro, like a drop would cause him to gain a tail. He had such an understanding for sea animals, that even the most skilled aquatic trainers weren't as good as him. Not to mention his usual curse of ‘kraken tentacles’ that seemed too outlandish to be real. 

“Um, can I get my usual?” It took everything in him to not grab Keith by the arm, pull him away and pour out all his questions. He didn’t know Keith. He had no clue how he’d react. Just because he saved him from drowning didn’t really mean anything.

“BLT on raisin bagel. Got it. How are you feeling?”

Lance went near the bar, trying to put enough space between him and Keith, seeing him tense and turn his head away from him. “Better. I just needed to get out of my room. Hunk’s practically kept me locked in there.”

“Well you know how he worries. I’m sure you're a little eager to start easing yourself back into the water.”

Lance shrugged. He’s had close calls before, it just took a bit of talking himself up to remember that the sea could be a friend and or enemy, and avoiding it forever wouldn’t do anything but make you wish you weren’t so scared to get back in. Of course, after his last wipeout, he couldn’t blame himself for holding onto that fear just a bit. The sea had never done that before.

Adam moved to get started on Lance’s sandwich when he stopped, his eyes trained on Lance’s chest.

“Is that a...scale?”

That got Keith’s attention. The red-purple eyes watched as Lance used his thumb to show off the scale dangling from his neck.

“Yeah! It was, in my hand I guess. Guess I grabbed it when I was swimming up.”

Adam’s eyes glanced at Keith before he nodded and went to start Lance’s sandwich. Lance forced himself to not look at Keith, though it seemed like he couldn’t pull his hand from the scale, like he wanted to show it off to Keith. He didn’t want to scare Keith, or even force him to tell him; but he felt like preening, showing proof that everything that happened was real with Keith’s gaze still on him.

“Hey, Adam. I’m gonna be in the bathroom.” Lance said, hoping to get away from the mesmerizing gaze. He wanted to know Keith, as a person but if he pushed things, he wouldn’t even get a chance. Keith wasn’t the only one in danger if he didn’t control himself.

Shiro had appeared in Altea as Adam’s new husband, which surprised a lot of people, including Lance. Adam would babysit him if his older siblings couldn’t, and he had stayed friends with Lance for as long as he could remember. He knew how serious Adam was about relationships, so for him to have gone to India for a month and come back almost 3 months later with a new husband, was surprising. Then he really met Shiro, and got to know the new guy as an older brother figure, someone who had an open ear and advice to give. Like everyone who knew Adam, they grew to love Shiro. The two were the kind of couple Lance could only hope to be one day. If he didn’t control himself, he’d make Keith think he was going to expose them. They might even leave Altea.

“God Lance, you met one mermaid and you can’t control yourself. Don’t show off the scale like it’s some sort of token to hold over his head.” Lance told his reflection, turning the tab on and collecting enough water to splash on his face. The door to the bathroom swung open, slamming against the wall. Lance turned to see familiar red-purple eyes staring at him.

“A fish? That’s what you’ve been telling people?”

A quick glance to the stalls and such told Lance they were completely alone. “Well, I didn’t think saying I got it from the mermaid that saved me would have been a good idea.”

Keith stared at him, making Lance nervous about what he would say. Would he distrust him and tell him to stay away? Was he thinking Lance wanted something out of this?

“Clearly you must have figured out about Shiro. Why didn’t you tell Adam the truth?” Keith asked, cautiously.

“Well, to be honest, it wasn’t until Adam said you were Shiro’s brother that it became clear to me. Though I was suspicious, I thought it was just him not liking getting wet. Look, I’m not going to tell anyone if that’s what you're worried about. I mean, it would put you and Shiro in danger, Adam too.”

Keith seemed to believe him, if only a little. “How did you know it was me anyway? I don’t exactly look the same.”

Your eyes. That's what he wanted to say. That he’d seen those red-purple eyes, the strange yet perfect mix and knew. But that would be embarrassing and Lance wasn’t looking to make more of an idiot out of himself.

“Your hair. No offence, but mullets got left back in the 80s.”

“It is not a mullet.”

“Kind of is.”

Keith glared at him, but he seemed more relaxed. “Are you doing ok? After what happened?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Trust me, I’m a surfer, not the first time I’ve almost drowned. I’ll need to ease myself back in. Won’t have any competitions for a while, so my sponsor won’t be too mad.”

Keith looked away, looking guilty. Lance wanted to ask what was wrong when the door swung open and a guest came in. It wasn’t safe to talk about it anymore.

“Hey, if you want, I can come by the Inn and we can talk. I do kinda have questions.” Keith gave him a questioning look that Lance could only shrug to. “Well ask Adam. I’m a bit of a nerd.”

“I guess it wouldn’t be that bad.”

He was going to be talking to an actual mermaid. Now all Lance had to do was not self combust.


	5. First dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I'd upload on Sundays but I plan on washing my hair tomorrow, which is a full day affair so thought I'd do this now, that way I won't forget. Remember to check out Mimi's art for this fic if you haven't, [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAl7tVFg2fA/?igshid=1qbbwpq5ospbp) is where you can find it. Remember to NOT repost her art. She worked hard to make it.

Keith didn’t know why he agreed to talk to Lance. He didn’t know why but when he said he wouldn’t tell anyone, Keith believed him. He didn’t know why when he cornered Lance in the bathroom that he didn’t immediately feel like he had to be on the defence around him. He barely knew Lance, but for some reason he knew he could trust him. Even though, according to Shiro, he was obsessed with mers.

“Not obsessed, really. He just really likes the lore of them. Has since he was a kid.” Adam corrected. “I think it’s the surfer in him, the one who feels in tune with the ocean, that makes him love mers so much. They’re mysterious creatures that look after the ocean and live in happiness there.”

“To be honest, I kinda expected that he’d figure it out. The fact that he never said anything, I guess makes sense. Number of siblings he’s got, it’s no surprise he knows how to keep a secret.” Shiro pointed out.

“What do you mean?”

“I mostly know Lance through his family coming to stay at the inn. His niece and nephew had a habit of trying to pretend they were in the ocean and have overflowed the bathtub way too many times to count. His parents and brother moved to Cuba to take care of his grandparents and all his other siblings are all over the place. Lance is the only McClain left here in Altea, technically speaking. His family is close knit so secrets are probably natural to him.”

“But you trust him?” Keith asked.

“Honestly, with my life. Yes, he might like mers, but you can trust Lance. He’s never once proven himself other than loyal.”

Shiro and Adam trusted Lance, but they knew him. Keith didn’t, and yet somehow, he already knew he could trust Lance. He didn’t know if it was guilt or if he was just a good judge of character but he just knew that Lance meant what he said. That he wouldn’t try to hurt Keith or that he only wanted information. He could only hope it wouldn’t come to bite him the fins later.

* * *

Lance was still reeling. For the first time since he came to the Sea Side Café, Lance didn’t eat his bagel. He’d played with it a bit, before wrapping it up and sticking it in his mini fridge.

He met a mermaid. Hell, he had known a mermaid for almost 3 or 4 years and he hadn’t even known. Lance was honestly surprised Keith even agreed to talk to him. How was this suddenly his life? It seemed like not that long ago, he’d been surfing in Dubai to try and win a competition, the last one before school started and he’d come back home to fall back into his usual routine. Then what should have been an innocent surfing session turned into an almost drowning, and meeting a mythical creature he’d been obsessed with since he was a kid. If he was a different person, he’d be on all the forum cites, talking about his discovery. But he guessed half the reason he wasn’t doing that was because of how Keith acted. Lance worked with aquatic animals at his job at the marine park. They got scared easily and gaining their trust was something Lance always wanted to achieve. Not to compare Keith to say, a dolphin, but the point stood. He wouldn’t show off a dolphin that didn’t want the attention or use it for his own gain, so he wouldn’t do it to Keith. He couldn’t do that to Shiro. Even if they were mermaids, they were people too. Shiro made a life here with Adam and Keith had come here for a reason. He wouldn’t be the reason it was ruined.

He sighed and glanced at his phone. He had hours until it was dinner. Usually he’s bundling energy would go to surfing but after the last washout session, it was taking a bit longer than usual for him to talk himself into getting back in the water. He decided he might as well spend it with his favourite girl.

“Hi Blue!” Lance called to the dolphin who decided saying hi to her favourite trainer was better than lunch.

Blue didn’t have the best life. She had grown up in captivity after her mother had been caught and brought to an unkind marine park, and she hadn't been treated well at all. The Altea Marine Park was able to get a hold of her and a few other mistreated animals. It had been a long road of rehabilitating them, but most were now happy animals.

Blue unfortunately would never be able to survive on her own in the wild so she wouldn’t join any of the friends she made who were recovering to be released, but she didn’t let that stop her. She was one of the few dolphins that performed tricks for visiting guests or the few special shows they did to a crowd. When Lance started working at the Marine Park, he’d been the one to help figure out why she wasn’t eating and she had bonded with him the most. If surfing couldn’t calm him down or help him relax, just spending a bit of time playing with Blue made him feel better.

“Hey Lance.” His co-worker Plaxum called as she came closer to him, the feeding pool empty as the dolphins went back to their own pools. “How you feeling? I heard about that wipeout you had.”

“Oh, I’m fine. Gonna take me awhile to get back in the water, but I’ll be fine. I can feed her.”

“Like she’ll take it from anyone else. Hopefully we’ll see you out there in time for the annual Altean Surfing Contest.”

Lance had almost forgotten about that. It wasn’t for another month and Lance didn’t have to compete, especially after a huge win like he had in Dubai, but he thought now it might be a good goal to work himself up to.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe you can talk him into it, Blue. Enjoy your lunch.” Plaxum left the overly large container still filled with fresh seafood and other things dolphins liked eating. Blue was spoiled, she wanted her food hand fed to her.

“Blue, have I got a story to tell you. You know how I love mermaids? Well guess who met one? I mean, I was drowning when it happened but still. It was just so sudden. There I was, just surrounded by water, trying not to drown when he pressed a scale against my lips and suddenly it was like I was swimming normally. But way easier because I could breath. And I opened my eyes and these red purple eyes were staring at me. I could tell he was apologizing to me; I could hear it but all I wanted to do was just stare into his eyes. They were just so, pretty. I don’t really know why he was apologizing but it was weird, I wanted to just let him know everything was going to be OK. I don’t really know what made me feel that way, or why I just knew that I had to keep his secret, but I just knew it had to be that way. Now I am meeting him tonight and I want to just get to know him. God, this isn’t any different than just meeting a new person, but the mermaid thing just adds all this extra fear to it. I don’t want him to think him being a mermaid is the only reason I want to talk to him. God, and what about Shiro? I like Shiro, what if he thinks I’m being nice to him because he’s a mermaid too. And what if-”

Blue apparently had had enough of hearing about Lance’s problems, because without him noticing she ducked down in the water and used her fin to splash Lance, like Lance would make her do to visitors.

“Blue!” Lance complained as she started squeaking at him. He couldn’t tell if she was yelling at him or if she was laughing but the point was, Blue was tired of Lance worrying about everything. “Alright, I get it. I should stop worrying.” Blue swam closer to nudge at his hand, which he used the poke at her nose. “Alright you little brat, hungry?”

Worrying was just gonna make him crazy. All he could do was make sure he didn’t insult them or cause them to worry about their own safety.

Easier said than done, right?

* * *

Lance came towards the end of dinner at the inn. Adam called him over and started putting him to work the minute he took his jacket off.

“Lance works at the Cafe on his off time.” Shiro explained as he let Keith be in charge of putting salad in proper bowls. He still didn’t feel comfortable leaving Keith to dish hotter items, or handling sharp items. Shiro didn’t care if Keith was skilled with mer weapons, gravity and movement worked differently under water than on land and he was in no mood to cart Keith off to the hospital.

“So, I would have bumped into him eventually, huh?” Keith asked, looking out the kitchen window to see Lance serving guests with ease. He could tell he was a bit tense, his exposed shoulders pulling up just the smallest amount when he glanced to the kitchen and saw Keith looking at him. Keith could still see the cord that held the scale around his neck. “He looks nervous.”

“Well he did just find out people he knew are his favourite mythological creatures. Give him a bit of credit. Once dinner is over, we’ll talk to him.”

Shiro seemed at ease, so he knew that he had to have confidence everything would be OK. Keith wished he could feel that confident. 

Finally, guests started heading back to their rooms and Adam closed the doors to the dining hall while Shiro dished out dinner for them. He handed Keith two plates and nodded his head to Lance who was putting dishes in tubs to bring them to the kitchen. Knowing if he didn’t move, Shiro would probably shove him out the kitchen, Keith stepped in front of Lance.

“Uh…?” Lance started, looking a bit confused.

“Hungry?”

“Um, yeah sure.”

Adam swooped in and took the tub from Lance. “You two go ahead and sit. We’ll be out in a while.”

The nerves showed up on Lance’s face again. He sat down at a table and tried not to fidget as Keith put the plates down, sitting opposite him. They sat there in silence for what felt like ages before Keith huffed.

“This is so stupid.”

Lance felt a little insulted. “I’m sorry you think sitting with me is stupid.”

“No! that’s not – ugg!” Keith groaned hiding his face in his hands. “I mean, this quiet and nervousness.”

“What, you’re not nervous about having to sit with the one person who figured out your secret?”

He was. He really was, but the silence reminded him of time spent with visitors who come to the castle and barely said two words to him.

“OK,” Shiro said, bringing his and Adam’s dinner out. If he noticed the tense air, he didn’t say anything. “You’re in luck Lance, we had one more strawberry Fanta in the fridge.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m sure you’ve got a ton of questions, but no sense in stressing with an empty stomach. Dig in.”

Lance did what Shiro ordered. If this was his last meal at the Inn, he’d make the most of it.

“OK, I’ve got to know, how does a mermaid know how to cook so well?”

Adam and Shiro laughed, Keith looking confused. Lance guessed he was used to Shiro’s cooking, but he didn’t know how cooking worked underwater.

“Let’s say it wasn’t the easiest thing to learn when I first got here. Adam and I went sailing when I decided to stay with him and I almost burned the boat down a fair few times.” Shiro explained. “But I’m nothing if not determined.”

“It really worked in your favour.” Lance said, taking another forkful. “So, what is the real story? As far as everyone knows, Adam went to India for a month, and came back several months later with a husband.”

“Well, I guess kinda like the Little Mermaid, I met Adam in India. Keith and I are from the Indian Ocean Kingdom. All the main oceans have kingdoms to rule over them because of the special pearls they hold, acting as keys for the sea goddess, Aqua Regina. Our kingdom is a bit special because of our last two rulers… Shiro explained as he had to Adam.

“He was singing on a rock when I found him.” Adam finally continued, “It took a while to earn his trust, but I did and when I told him I was staying a little while longer, things seemed to look up. Of course, then we were found out and the council had him thrown out of the kingdom, I told him to come with me. It was a risk, giving up everything to follow a human. I mean, it didn't work out well for the original Little Mermaid, but all the time on the boat together proved we worked together. The rest is history, I guess. Other than my parents being a little worried, Shiro is nothing but charming.”

“Except when he’s a general mess.” Keith muttered loud enough to be heard.

“Excuse me? I seem to remember a certain prince doing a royal flop in front of the whole kingdom during the blessing festival.”

Two things happened. Keith went red and Lance started choking on his food.

“Shiro!”

“Wait, prince?”

Patting Lance on the back to keep him from actually dying, it became apparent that maybe they should have included a few more details in their story.

“Keith, is the crown prince of the Indian Ocean Kingdom.” Adam explained.

“Then why is a prince here? No offence.” Lance said, still trying to breath and understand what was going on.

Keith felt nervous at that question. The reason he was here had affected Lance. That power stolen by Poseidon’s Trident, power he somehow absorbed, had messed with the wave Lance was on and had almost caused him to drown.

“Well, I guess to answer that question, you need much more in depth history on mer lore.” Shiro said.

While excited to actually learn real life mer lore; the fact that they were being secretive about it made Lance worried. Just how bad was this story?

The rest of dinner was filled with stories about Adam and Shiro’s honeymoon and stories about the things Keith did. Lance also learned small things about mers, like their ability to control water, which Shiro showed by turning his soda into jello. He learned about mer pods, and how they differed from the actual kingdoms; and Aqua Regina, the Queen, goddess of the Ocean, said to be an unnamed daughter of Poseidon himself. Lance had so many questions but what he really wanted to know was the story they were still hiding.

Lance knew Shiro liked keeping his kitchen clean, Adam was the same way, so seeing them drop the dishes on the counter and herd them into the office felt odd to Lance. Keith pulled a book, which caused the bookshelf to swing open.

“Oh my gosh, the rumours are true!! This place was used to house mermaids?” Lance asked excitedly.

“Well if the underground entrance to the sea is any indication, yes.” Shiro answered. “But we’ll get to that later. This is what we want to show you.”

Shiro lead them down the steps into the treasure room, Lance walked slowly behind, taking everything in. It reminded him of Ariel’s treasure room in the movie. Lance could see the polaroids and the half-finished things he recognised as Shiro’s work.

“This is amazing.”

“Every time we’ve gone out sailing, we always bring a piece back. We can show you the stuff gifted to us by the mer pods, but I think you’re gonna want to hear a story first.” Shiro said.

That got Lance’s attention. It had been the one thing they’d been avoiding. He took a seat on the couch, ready to hear the story.

Shiro took a deep breath, glancing at Keith. This wasn’t just some random story he was telling Lance; this was serious.

“To understand the story, you need to know the history of the Indian Ocean Kingdom.” Shiro started, Adam and Keith taking their own seats on the couch. “Remember the Pearl Princesses I was talking about earlier?”

“The princesses that had the keys or whatever for the ocean spirit?” Lance asked.

“Yes, the pearls were the keys to allowing Aqua Regina to be revived after she perished defending the ocean from a great evil. The holders of the pearls were connected to them. Their singing was pitch perfect as long as they had it on them and the pearls were in tune with their emotions. So much so that if the wearer was to experience pure sorrow, then they could unleash so much power it would destroy everything around them and even affect the ocean. That happened with the Orange Pearl Princess, Princess of the Indian Ocean, Sara.”

“You mentioned she destroyed the kingdom. It was because of her human lover?”

“She loved him so much that she was considering leaving the kingdom to join him. The council was rumoured to have told her lover she didn’t love him anymore, and when Sara went to meet him and he wasn’t there, they told her that he had left her. They never expected her emotions would be so torn that she would destroy the kingdom. After it happened, she was found by a member of the same clan Aqua Regina had died defeating, the Panthalassa.”

“Wait, the dark creatures?” Lance asked, sounding like he knew exactly what Shiro was talking about.

“Wait, you know what the Panthalassa clan is?” Keith asked, surprised.

“Well, the Panthalassa sea is a supersea that existed back when all the continents were connected. There are stories of these creatures that lived in the shadows of the sea and would attack other creatures. There are stories that say they were the main enemy of mermaids and would eat their flesh.” Lance recited, not seeming the slightest bit put off that the Panthalassa were real. Then again, he’d had a few days to digest that mers were real. “Wait, they’re real?” Or not.

“Very. Sara was found by one of them. He took her in and took care of her, only asking that she help him bring back Aqua Regina so he could have revenge. She felt that Aqua Regina didn’t stand by her love, so she agreed. As they spent time together, they developed true feelings for each other. When Sara’s conscience told her, he was too deep in revenge, she helped the other Pearl Princesses defeat him, but she allowed herself to be destroyed with him rather than go with the princesses, when he decided to let them go.”

Lance took time to fully absorb what Shiro told him. A mer, who had been betrayed by her people, found love in her enemy who could have killed her, or taken her power. But all he wanted was to make her happy. He could only guess that even though Sara had decided to stop him, she must have seen more in him.

“She stayed for love.”

“She did. Unfortunately, others didn’t see it that way. Of course, the next queen didn’t help either. Before she was reborn, she was taken by another enemy, pretty much absorbed into them. Don’t ask.” Shiro interrupted, seeing Lance had questions, “Trust me. We grew up with these stories and it’s still a mystery to us. The point is, the new queen Sierra, understood what the enemy was going through. She saw this powerful being who wanted answers, who was being pulled around like a puppet and had all these emotions from the human they were connected to. She stopped him from hurting the other Pearl Princesses, but she also saw someone who needed help. It turns out she was right. The enemy was being controlled. He was defeated in the end, but Sierra always held compassion for him. The newly formed council was not happy about that.”

“Before my mom rose to the throne, they basically announced that any sympathisers of the Panthalassa Clan or anyone who would go to the surface would be banished from the kingdom.” Keith continued. “We had also been tasked by Aqua Regina, to hold on to the two main weapons of the Panthalassa. One is the Staff of Panthalassa, and the other is Poseidon’s Trident. The staff is pretty tame. It’s mostly used as a booster for their power, while the Trident is different. Half the reason it had been so hard to defeat the Panthalassa without Aqua Regina’s help was because of it. It takes the energy and life force of any mer who’s close by or touching it. The energy then gets transferred to the Panthalassa holding it.

The Trident still held all the power it had taken back when Aqua Regina defeated them, all we had to do was make sure no one would get it or touch it. Except...” Keith trailed off.

“Except?” Lance pushed a bit.

“Almost a week ago...I had snuck out to go see a surfing competition in Dubai. My mom came looking for me and I wasn’t there, so she found out I had been sneaking out, and we got into this huge fight. That night, I had this really weird dream. Panthalassa males are known for having spiky hair; and I saw these figures with spiky hair and the Staff and Trident. When I woke up, I just felt the urge to go and check on them. The Staff was fine but the Trident...it was radiating energy.”

Lance imagined what Keith was explaining to him. “The Trident had this horrible, oppressing aura around it. It sucked me in and I felt this urge to touch it. And I did, except, I didn’t pass out from losing energy. Somehow, I absorbed it. The sudden surge of power started shaking the whole castle, so I didn’t really think twice, I just left. I decided to hide out with Shiro and started swimming to Altea, but that power was still inside me and it got harder and harder to keep it in. I was pretty close when I finally let it go, and the unleashed power messed with the sea.”

Lance was silent. Keith stared at him, wondering if he understood what he was getting at.

“The wave I was on, the one that disappeared from under me. That was because of you?” Lance’s expression hadn’t changed. Keith didn’t know what to think. Was he mad or not? Had he lost Lance before he got the chance to know him?

  
  



	6. How we can help each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, opps? Maybe because I'm usually still working on BB chapters when it's due but I finished this with time to spare, I forget that oh yeah, I have to post the chapters. I'm not complaining that I finished with time to spare, just that I'm having this issue, but it could also be part of my complete lack of memory that causes this too. Anyway, enjoy.

The sound of water lapping, filled the hidden room with the sea entrance under the Lion Seaside Inn. Lance sat on the edge of the pool, his feet submerged in the water and resting on the small step. He’d just had the whole explanation as to why Keith was on land instead of at home and...that he had been the cause for Lance almost drowning. After Keith explained everything, Lance needed a moment. It was a lot of information to digest. It wasn’t just the fact that mers were real, it was more than that. The whole actual true lore behind them, how the Panthalassa were real and a threat to the ocean. But what got him most was the fact that Keith had been affected by them too.

Lance didn’t blame Keith for what had happened. It wasn’t even his fault. Whatever the Trident had done to him, was obviously scary. He’d left his home to hide away and his parents didn’t even know what happened to him. The whole situation was just, hard. Even though Keith hadn’t meant him harm, the wave still caused Lance anxiety about surfing again.

Hearing someone by the door, Lance turned to see Keith, looking nervous. Lance patted the ground next to him.

“Come sit. I’m not mad if that’s what you're worried about.” Keith sat almost behind Lance, as far away from the water as possible. “It’s just a lot to take in.”

“I know. I am sorry though.”

Lance thought back to the event. Things had been fine; he was riding the wave like normal. He was aiming for the curl when the water just seemed to disappear from under him. He’d been so surprised, and that's when he’d lost his balance. He didn’t even have a chance to take a quick breath. However, when he could breathe again, all he could hear was Keith apologizing to him.

“I know. You kept apologizing. I’m not mad, trust me.”

Keith looked relieved to hear that. “Thanks.”

“Hey, come closer. you’re so far away.” Lance suggested. He noticed Keith glancing at the water with a distrustful eye. “What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t exactly...gone back in the water since the power got released.”

“But you’re a mer.”

“Who has been filled with the evilest power known to the ocean. I know it’s stupid, but I’m scared if I go into the sea again, all that power will come back.”

It did sound stupid, but then again, it sounded stupid to other people when Lance got nervous to go surfing again after a bad wipe out. So, he decided to offer advice, the same advice he lives by.

“Try it slowly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Getting back in the water. Try doing it slowly. It’s what I do.” Keith looked confused. “Hey, you're not the only one who’s scared of getting back in the water. I just know that if I stay scared, I’m not gonna improve. I can help you.”

“You wanna help the guy that caused you to drown?”

Lance shrugged. “I would have wiped out eventually. This way we can both help each other out. I know a lot about Panthalassa. Clearly what happened to you wasn’t normal. What if I can find info on them, maybe there is an answer. We can both help each other by going into the water, at your pace.” Lance wouldn’t say a word about wanting to compete in the upcoming Altean Surf competition. 

“At my pace? Are you sure?”

“Of course. I mean, unless you wanna go by mine and I might be pretty vindictive after what happened.” Lance teased.

Keith glared at Lance. He still didn’t know why he felt so comfortable, but he wasn’t gonna complain. Maybe a person he could trust other than Shiro and Adam was something he needed.

“I hope you don’t have any competitions soon, cause at my pace, I’m not going in till I’m good and ready.”

* * *

Shiro marvelled over his inn’s new stove and oven. Finally, he could serve hot meals to his guests again. He thought about what to cook first, when the door leading into the dining room burst open, admitting an annoyed mer prince.

“I thought you went with Adam to the Cafe?” Shiro asked.

“I was waiting for Lance, but he never showed. This is the second time. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that human. He promised to help me and then disappeared at the first turn.”

Shiro couldn’t help but laugh a little. He’d never seen Keith get so worked up over someone. It was nice to see Keith trusting, he remembered how hard it was to get past his shell.

“Keith, Lance is at school. Adam doesn’t let students work at the cafe during their first week, so they have time to figure out their schedules. Not to mention Lance also has work at the marine park and Cafe.”

“Marine Park?”

“Yeah. It's a park with rides and such and sea animals live there. They have a rehabilitation program there for animals who can’t go back to live in the sea. They live there and if they can learn tricks easily, they perform. It also helps them get them to listen, if they have to do a check-up; kinda like how you got Kosmo to stay still when he hurt his fin that time.”

“Are they happy?”

“As far as I know. That’s what Lance is focusing on at school anyway, how care of aquatic animals affects them.”

“Hmm,” Keith said, looking thoughtful, “most humans don’t care about that.”

“I think it’s a surfer thing.” Shiro joked, though he could tell Keith didn’t get it. Which was fine, Lance could explain it to him. “If you want, I can give you Lance’s number and you can call him. Even visit him on campus, the college isn’t far from here. They focus on marine sciences here so they need to be close to the ocean. I bet you could find it easily with Google.”

Keith stared at him with an almost blank look. “What? What the trident is Google?”

Oh right, newly immersed mer living on land. Shiro was lucky, he had been able to ask the embarrassing questions to Adam, in the middle of the ocean. Keith didn’t have that luxury but he knew Keith would be determined. Besides, making mistakes was always the best thing. And now that he thought about it, he did need to get Keith a cell phone if he was gonna stay here.

He understood what Pidge must feel like when she tried explaining computer updates, as he tried to explain Google maps to Keith. Swimming in the ocean, you could feel the currents guiding you and they had an internal map of the whole ocean. A more precise place needed direction yes, but he missed having the ability to go wherever he needed.

“So just follow the blue line?” 

“Also make sure the little cone has the wider part on the blue line. For the love of Amphitrite, please don’t lose my phone.”

“Yeah, yeah. Question though, how the hell am I gonna know where he is?”

“Just ask a student to direct you to the library, I’ll have him meet you there.”

Keith still looked confused but he was out the door before he knew it. Keith was nothing if not determined. Now, if only he was confident, he wouldn’t get lost. Shiro picked up the Inn’s cordless phone and dialled a familiar number. It went to voicemail but he knew Lance would have his phone on his table to see who called.

“Hey Lance, just a heads up. Keith wanted to talk to you, I told him to go to the library so meet him there. Keep an eye on him, human things still confuse him. Last thing we need is someone unnecessary offering help.”

* * *

Lance sprinted out of his English class. Shiro had called in the middle and he had to pretend to go to the bathroom in order to listen to the message. He had then worried throughout the remainder of class. Keith didn’t know Altea that well and being around humans wasn’t a thing he was used to yet. From the Inn it was about 30 minutes following the coast, instead of shaving about 15 minutes off by going into town and catching the shuttle, so he knew he had time to meet Keith, but he was still nervous. He guessed he deserved the sudden visit; he’d been so busy with the first week of classes that he hadn’t gotten the chance to unearth his books on the Panthalassa or look for anything in the school’s library.

Altea University was located in one of the two main cities. Arus had the biggest university on the island, but the Garrison was more focused on flying, as opposed to more marine based majors Altea Uni had. A lot of students from the other schools visited AU’s library, as it was pretty big and diverse. The campus reflected that. Lance could easily walk to the buildings his classes were in but he made it a habit to only go back to his room when he had more than an hour of nothing to do.

He reached the library and looked around. Students were milling around or chilling on the steps, the noise of college students already muted in his ears. He spotted a familiar head of hair, his eyes focused on the phone in his hands. He stood out in his oversized red hoodie and jeans. Lance made a mental note to remind Shiro or Adam to take him shopping. He was gonna get warm very quickly if the temperature rose any higher, and knowing the weather it would. He started towards Keith but noticed someone get there first. James Griffin was cocky and used to being in charge, he was one of the few students studying at both the Garrison and AU. Lance thought anyone giving themselves more work was insane but he thought Griffin was just annoying to be around at most. His ‘holier than thou’ attitude did get him some rather amazing clap backs and he had a feeling Keith would deliver.

“Haven’t seen you around. Can I help you find anything?”

“Yeah, you can swim into the mouth of a kraken, you pompous kelp heap.”

Lance couldn’t help bursting into laughter. He didn’t think Griffin really did anything to deserve the burn but the look on his face was too perfect.

“There you are. Where have you been?” Keith asked, walking over to him, ignoring Griffin’s sputtering and Lance losing his mind.

“I have class, though I must say this was the perfect break. My god, that was beautiful. Not that I would ever say no to Griffin getting his ass handed to him, but what did he do?” Lance asked, leading Keith away from the crowd.

Keith frowned. “I took one look at him, and saw those annoying mers who’d look down at me for being from the Indian Ocean or for not really being a ‘Pearl’ Prince.”

“Well he does act like we should bow down to him, so fair enough. Was it hard to get here?”

Keith shook his head, looking thoughtful. “No, the path Shiro put me on had me near the ocean. Other than when I go to Adam’s restaurant, I haven’t really looked at the ocean since I came to the surface.”

“Pretty isn’t it?” Lance asked, thinking about how the water shone in the sunlight.

“It is. I kinda miss it.”

“Hey,” Lance said, nudging Keith with his elbow, “that’s good. You wouldn’t even get close to the water before and you didn’t say a word about how you felt about it other than you were scared to get in.”

“I still am. I just, I thought it would be easy to not want to go in, even if I still think it’s stupid that a mer is afraid of going in the water.” 

“Being afraid of the water is a natural thing. The sea is unpredictable. If you told me you’d never miss it, then I’d be concerned.”

He could understand where Keith was coming from. He wasn’t a merman obviously but he practically grew up in the water. Swimming lessons since he was a baby, visits to the beach and pool on an almost everyday basis. He has the constant desire to skip school just so he could get better at surfing. He hadn’t planned on trying to get a sponsorship, he wasn’t complaining, but being able to do what he loved and get paid for it was pretty nice. When he had bad wipe outs though, he felt like he was being ridiculous. He was a surfer; he wasn’t supposed to be scared of the water. He’d avoid it in the beginning but then, like how he missed his mom when he craved her garlic knots, he missed the ocean. The salty smell, the feeling of the water washing up on the shore where he was standing. Watching brave fish swim by his feet as he laid on his board in the water, or the gentle rocking when he would be in a boat. It felt like his homesickness for the ocean would combat any fears he had. And they did usually, as long as he didn’t push himself. Even now, with the fears of what Keith accidentally caused, he was itching to get back into the water. Usually he’d start out with the pool - 

Wait a second. He pulled out his phone and double checked his schedule. He had a lab at 3 so it couldn’t be now but hopefully Shiro wouldn’t mind an extra for dinner.

“I know I said we’d go at your pace, but how about we build on your desire for water just a bit?”

“How?”

“Nothing too insane. Come on, we can go to my room and I’ll explain.”

* * *

Keith breathed heavily as they reached Lance’s room. He watched Lance pull out a card and tap it on a grey box by the door, which let out a click and Lance swung it open.

“Dying?”

“I’m so, what is this?”

“It’s called being hot.”

The last time he felt like this was when he’d gone with Shiro to the surface and they had laid out on the rocks until he started to feel dried out, and close to changing into a human at that point. He guessed this was the human version of that.

“I hate it.” He said following Lance into the building and passing the large room filled with people relaxing on couches and armchairs, most focused on the TV.

“That’s because Shiro is giving you heavy clothes, and this is practically a Caribbean country. Just ask them to go shopping.” Lance led him up the stairs to the second floor and they finally reached a door with a sign that had Lance’s name and someone called ‘Hunk’. 

Lance opened the door and let Keith in first. It was a decently sized room, probably about the size of Adam and Shiro’s bedroom, and that was the biggest room in the whole inn. It fit two beds and two chests of drawers easily and the desk shoved in a corner was covered in belongings. What he could guess was Lance’s side, judging from the familiar board resting on the wall, had a string of photos hanging over the bed. It was covered in blue tones and was almost drowning in pillows and stuffed animals; most were aquatic creatures. A small bookshelf acted as a bedside table, almost caving to the weight of the books on it. The few posters on his side were drawings of mermaids. 

Lance turned on the fan that sat in the corner of the room and pointed it towards his bed.

“Hunk might still be at class and I’ve got until 2:30 to do anything.” Lance said, dropping his bag on the table and sitting on the bed, patting the space close to him. Keith gratefully sat. He hadn’t realised just how much his legs were burning. It felt like when he swam from the Indian Ocean all the way to Altea, though not as much. 

“So, what’s this idea you have?”

“You take baths?”

Keith furrowed his brow. “Yeah?”

“Let’s switch out the bathwater for sea water.”

“Huh? But the last time I was in the sea-”

“No, you were in the sea when the power of the Panthalassa was attached to you. This is a bathtub full of sea water.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The sea is an untameable being. It's a whole body that has unimaginable power. We’d just be taking a bit of it out of its powerhouse. If anything happens in a little bath, then we’ll know whatever this power is, it’s activated by the sea, which will make things very hard on you.”

He was right there. The walk over to the university was the closest he’d been to the sea not counting when he stared at the pool under the Inn. He didn’t go above water much back in the Indian Ocean, but just looking at his home from on land, he appreciated it more. To know it brought joy to humans and mers alike, he ached for it. If it turned out this insane power really was activated by water, he didn’t know what he’d do.

“I still need to figure out why this is happening.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Lance leaned over to where his books were and pulled out a large, bound one. “Here. This book has all the info I know about Panthalassa. We can’t borrow books just yet from the library but when we can, we’ll look for more.”

Keith took the book, the foiling faded but the lettering clear where it pressed into the cover. 

“History of Ancient Creatures.” He read. He opened it and glanced at the table of contents. Almost every creature he grew up hearing stories about was listed in the book. He glanced over to Lance who had pulled out a laptop from under his bed. “You really like sea creatures, huh?”

“Yeah. I mean, mers most of all. I guess the idea of being one with the ocean was pretty cool to me as a kid and surfing just made that idea grow. I never really thought my interest in it would lead to helping a merman, but like my _abuelo_ always says, things happen for a reason.”

Keith flipped to the pages marked for Panthalassa and stilled at the drawing of a male figure with spiky hair. It was just like that dream, the one that had started this whole mess.

“Named after the famed supersea, and the Greek word for ‘all seas’, the Panthalassa Clan have stories closely related with ones of mercreatures. Not as widely known, some stories speak of a clan that could have destroyed the sea, had it not been for the great spirit of the sea itself destroying them.”

“Sounds like the story of Aqua Regina. What were you guys told about the Panthalassa Clan growing up?” 

Keith thought back to the stories his mother told him when he was a guppy. They had scared him, thinking an evil being would come and take him away. “Dark creatures of the sea who listened to one leader, and wanted to destroy the sea. A Pearl Royal’s song isn’t strong enough unless blessed by the person who destroyed them in the first place. They were only destroyed when their powers started to affect the lands above.” Keith looked back at the passage and continued reading. “The Panthalassa were powerful beings, having control of the sea just as easily as a mercreature would. They could corrupt sea creatures and pull from the power of the darkest depths of the sea. The whole Clan listened to one leader. Their word was law and no one could break free of their leader’s control. It's said that the Ancients had been an opponent of theirs due to their evil ways, but the Panthalassa had been able to overcome them which showed the spirit of the ocean that they must be stopped. What are the Ancients?”

Lance looked over to where his books were before pulling out another and flipping to the correct page. It was almost scary how Lance knew exactly where to look for this information. 

“The Ancients were said to be like God’s angels, living on Earth before humans became the dominant species. They had gone against a clan of dark sea dwellers, in hopes of stopping them from destroying the sea for good. They failed and with the appearance of humans, were almost destroyed forever. Their emperor tried to protect them but failed at the cost of his powers, leaving him in a fossilized state. Researchers claimed to have found the fossil, but no actual proof supports that statement. They’re angels basically. I wonder if the idea of finding a fossil of them is actually true though.”

“Stories have to be told somehow. My mom says that the stories we tell started somewhere and have some truth in them. Just as real as the Panthalassa are, the Ancients might be real as well. Actually, now that we mention it, there’s this hallway in the castle that the council tries to keep blocked off. There’s this huge mural of this winged being with long white hair. They say it’s a reminder of the stain brought onto the Indian Ocean Kingdom’s name by Pearl Princess Sierra. This book says that the whole kingdom of Panthalassa had been destroyed by the sea spirit, and twins prophesied to bring back power to the clan were separated. There was an attempt to resurrect the clan but it failed and the fear of the Panthalassa faded like sea foam.

“What prophecy could they be talking about?” Keith skimmed through the rest of the extremely short chapter but couldn’t find anything. The chapter mostly talked about ideas of what caused the Panthalassa to be what they were, bringing up an event that happened in Japan that some people thought could have been the appearance of a Panthalassa. It sounded vaguely familiar; and theories about what would've happened had they not been destroyed. “This isn’t totally helpful.”

“Well if we’re lucky, the library will have more books. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do. The University gets a lot of visitors from mythology writers.”

The door to the room opened and a tall, large man walked in. He had a yellow shirt tied around his waist and his shirt was stained with dark stains.

“Wow, what exploded?” Lance asked, not seeming concerned with the stains.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Oh, uh.” he said, noticing Keith.

“Oh right. Keith, this is my roommate and best friend Hunk. Hunk, this is Keith. He’s Shiro’s brother and just moved down here.”

“Boy, you sure do move quick, huh?” Hunk said, raising an eyebrow in Keith’s direction.

“It’s not like that! He’s interested in sea mythology and Shiro thought I’d be the best person to ask.”

Keith looked between both Hunk and Lance, who was red in the face, feeling confused. Why were humans so odd? Then again, he needed help from one so maybe he was the odd one.


	7. Taking a first step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, that's all I can say. And enjoy.

“We’ve checked all the surrounding areas. There has been no sign of the prince.” Thace reported to the queen and the council.

One of the council members slammed a fist on the table, “Clearly you’re not trying hard enough! Do you not understand- the prince is in danger?”

“Honoured council member, I trained the prince myself. If you’re saying you think I can’t do my job, then I’d be glad to prove you wrong.”

“Enough!” Krolia yelled, silencing the room. “My son is missing, and the most powerful weapon known to all merkind has been activated and is searching for power. Arguing amongst ourselves is not doing anyone any good. Aqua Regina is said to appear in times of great distress, but we don’t have time to wait for her. We need to find a way to deactivate the Trident and we need to find Keith. Members of the council, we’ve hidden any knowledge of the Panthalassa for so long, that any knowledge we had has been forgotten. We need to ask for help from the other kingdoms, especially the North Pacific Kingdom.”

“If we ask for help, we are asking the rest of the kingdoms to look down at us.”

“So, you’re saying you’d rather keep your pride, than keep our kingdom safe? If that’s your answer, then you may see yourself out of my council. Everyone else with a working brain, get word out to the other kingdoms, we need information. Thace, send your men out further, go to the surface if you must. This meeting is dismissed.”

The members of the council looked like they wanted to protest, but Krolia’s glare kept them quiet. Once the room was empty, the queen slumped in her chair, her hand clutching at her heart. Tex couldn’t bear to see his wife like this.

“Where could he have gone? You can’t tell me that his disappearance and the Trident activating is just a coincidence. We were so mad at each other that night.”

“It’ll be ok. He’s ok, we can both feel it. We’ll find him, don’t worry.”

“How can I not worry? My only child and he doesn’t have the extra power of a Pearl Prince. I need to know what happened!”

Tex drew Krolia into his arms. “I need to know too, but stressing isn’t going to help us find him. Keith is smart. He has gone to the surface so many times. You can’t tell me he wouldn’t go up there to stay safe if he was in trouble.”

“The surface? Wait... Shiro is on the surface, isn’t he? They were so close; he could have gone to him.”

“That, true.” Tex said slowly, thinking. “But do we know where Shiro went? He said the human he met was visiting India.”

“The sea knows everything. He was banished from the kingdom, not from being a mer. Unless he’s living in a place where there’s no connection to the water, the sea will know. Tell Thace to look for information on Shiro. If there’s anywhere Keith would go, it’s there.”

* * *

After meeting Hunk, Lance showed Keith where to catch the shuttle and kept texting him on Shiro’s phone to make sure he got back to the Inn ok. Adam had come home early, and dragged Keith down to the local shops to get clothes that actually fit him. The red tank top and black shorts felt like a blessing after sweltering in the hoodie and jeans all afternoon. Now, Keith watched Adam and Lance drag a long hose into the bathroom.

“Ok, ready?” Lance asked.

Keith glanced over at Lance. The idea sounded stupid, like it wasn’t going to work. Not to mention they weren’t going at his pace like Lance had promised but…as stupid as it sounded, it did make sense. He was so sure that seawater would activate the powers again. They’d be taking the water away from its source, so it would just be like regular bathwater, he hoped. After walking the coastline earlier, the urge to just get in was growing, but his fear kept stopping him. The information from Lance’s book gave him a bit of insight into Panthalassa, but nothing as to how or why a mer could be filled with power. “I guess. Where’s Shiro?”

“Down, at the entrance. We’re gonna treat this like we’re changing water in a tank, basically we're encouraging the water to come up the hose.” Adam said, phone in his hand as he texted Shiro to send up the water.

With a gurgling sound, the tub started to fill with water relatively quickly.

“This is so cool.” Lance said, watching the work of mer magic.

“Easy.” Adam teased. He texted Shiro to stop the water and looked at Keith. “Want to get in now?”

Keith shook his head, looking apprehensive. “It’d be better if Shiro were here in case anything happens.”

Shiro didn’t take long getting upstairs. Trying not to look as nervous as he felt, Keith sat on the edge of the tub. He hesitated to put his feet in the water so when Lance made him scoot over. Keith looked at Lance, confused.

“We’ll do it together.”

“I could hurt you.”

Lance shrugged, already working on expanding his lungs. “I’m ready this time and Shiro’s here too.”

“Only if you want to, Keith.” Shiro reminded him. 

Keith took a deep breath and looked at the water. The water had a different shine, compared to the regular bathwater. Everything about the sea he was noticing differently now that he wasn’t in it anymore. All he wanted was to be in the water again. If the power was a one time thing, it would be the best news in the world. But he wouldn’t know that until he got in. He was never one to scare easily, and what happened had terrified him, but he also needed answers. Why and how did this happen? Did his mother know? Was there a reason he’d never reacted to the Orange Pearl? If being in the water was going to get him answers, he had to swallow his fear. It was just a bathtub of sea water. If he was scared to go in that, how was he ever going to regain the strength to get back into the actual sea?

“I’m ready.”

“On 3, ok? 1, 2, 3.”

The two slipped into the tub at the same time, letting themselves slip right under the water. Keith felt his legs become a tail, and he breathed easily with the feeling of the sea water surrounding him. And, nothing happened. The feeling of the Panthalassa’s stolen power wasn’t there. All he felt was the faint welcoming the ocean always had.

He looked over to Lance, who had his nose plugged and was starting to open his eyes, getting used to the sting of the salt water. He noticed Keith staring at him and even with his hand blocking his mouth, the mer prince could tell he was smiling.

“Thank you.” He said with a smile of his own.

Lance pushed himself up, breathing in air and trying to get away from Keith’s kind smile. Shit, he didn’t expect Keith’s smile to affect him like it did. All he did was say thank you, so why was it causing him so much heartache? It was those eyes, the red-purple eyes that drew him in the first time. 

“What happened? Did you run out of air?” Keith asked, sitting up as well. “You know that you can breathe underwater now that you have my scale, right?” Keith said, pulling at the cord holding the scale around Lance’s neck.

“Oh, uh I forgot. But hey, see? You’re completely fine. I told you, you’d be ok.”

“Do you feel any different?” Shiro asked.

Keith shook his head. “It just feels like it always does.”

“Maybe it was a one time thing. He absorbed the energy, maybe burned some of it off when swimming to Altea and then released it all that day with the wave. Hey, maybe that’s why the wave appeared.” Adam suggested.

It was a pretty good theory. He had absorbed the energy of mers, who could control water, creating a large wave would be no problem.

Lance pushed the hair plastered on his forehead, back. “Guess the next step is getting in the water though. That, we’ll do on your terms, promise.”

* * *

Lance scrolled through the pages of results he’d gotten from the school’s library cite. It was pretty surprising just how much info on the Panthalassa the school had. It was better than scouring the web and getting handed false sources.

He got distracted when the blue screen on his phone brightened, and a company logo appeared on the screen as a K-pop song blared. It was his surfing sponsor.

“Hello?”

“Lance, how are you my boy?”

Coran Smythe was his main handler. He usually booked Lance’s flights for competitions and told him about any events or contests. He’d been one of the first people Lance called when he was taken to the hospital after the wave. Coran was of course more concerned with how Lance was doing than not being able to throw his latest winner into another competition.

“Fine. School’s started so I’m just getting back into it.”

“How’s it going on the recovering aspect?”

“I’m working slow.” Lance hadn’t worked up the courage to get into the actual water yet. He was mostly waiting on Keith’s que as payback for pushing him. “Why?”

“Well the big bosses understand what you went through, but they wanted to have you do one more competition before the season was over. Is there anything coming up that you feel like you could do?”

Lance looked over to a flier hanging in the middle of his collage of posters. Signups for the Altean Surfing Competition were coming up. Lance could easily sign up, but was he even ready? Getting in a tub of water was a start, but nothing like getting on a thin board and trusting you can balance long enough to stay up.

“Um, maybe. There’s the local competition here, and I’d compete in October. I’d need to start training soon though.”

“Not to mention any stuff the big bosses want you to do in terms of interviews and such, not to mention your schooling.”

Yeah, Lance would be cutting it close. He didn’t care how many competitions he won; training was important. But not being able to get into the water though, that was going to pose a problem.

“If I could suggest an idea? Why not go swimming, stay in the deep end and just swim? Try pushing yourself to dive lower and lower until you’re near the bottom; you might find that if you don’t panic there, maybe it’ll help you try the ocean next.”

That was a thought. In fact, it was something he’d done when he had past wipeouts. He’d even go paddle boarding to get that sense of balance again. But most of his washout recoveries took at most 2 weeks. He was usually back in the ocean by now.

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

Keith watched the water move, using his control to create shapes. Since he tried the sea water in the tub idea, the urge to just get in had been growing. He’d been at the Cafe earlier and spent the whole day sitting on the deck, just staring at the water. All he wanted was to just dive in, but there was still a small bit of fear in him. Getting bored of playing with the water, he released it to fall back into the pool of the secret entrance and went back upstairs where Shiro was on the phone, clicking away at the computer that sat at the front desk.

“Alright, your reservation for October 22nd is set. Have a nice day.”

“What’s going on?” Keith asked, leaning against the desk, as far away from the computer as he possibly could. The glare from the computer hurt his eyes. One of their workers, Pidge, had been more than happy to teach him how to use the old cell phone Shiro gave him, and that was more than enough. 

“Just a reservation for the Altean Surfing Competition next month. It’s before your birthday actually.”

“Altean Surfing Competition?”

“Biggest surfing competition here. Lance won last year.”

Keith was sure that it was just a passing comment, but it made Keith think. Lance promised they’d help each other get over their fears, but Keith didn’t know if Lance was working to his goal. Keith only had to worry about getting back into the water again. From what he knew, surfing involved a lot more. But Lance had also just won that competition in Dubai, there was no way that they’d make him do another competition so soon, right?

“Hey, guess what’s happening tonight?” Shiro said, getting Keith’s attention again.

“What?”

“A full moon.”

A night of rejuvenating themselves and being closer to Aqua Regina, Keith grew up with his mother leading the blessings for the whole kingdom. After Shiro was banished however, Keith hadn’t gone to them very often.

“The moon pool we found on the isle is the perfect place to go. Pidge is in charge of the night shift so we can spend a few hours over there. What do you say, wanna give getting back into the water a chance?”

“Yeah.”

Of course, it wasn’t until they were on the island, and he was helping Adam make a fire so he would be warm while he waited, that he remembered the legend. Legend had it that any human in the pool, when the moon rose over it would become a mermaid. Adam worked in a restaurant, so touching water was gonna make things difficult and then he remembered his deal with Lance.

“Adam?”

“Hmm?”

“The Altean Surfing competition, do you think Lance will compete in that?”

“Why, did he say something?”

Keith shook his head as he looked at the growing fire pit. “Haven’t seen him since the sea water in the tub idea. Classes, I guess.”

“Well, he might. It’s next month, so he’d be needing to train now. Is this you feeling guilty about moving forward without Lance?”

Keith shrugged. “I still don’t know what it is about him that makes me trust him. It could be guilt, for all I know.”

“Well guilt and then gratitude that he offered to help anyway,” Adam said. “Look, emotions make zero sense sometimes. I mean, Shiro didn’t have to trust me when I told him I meant no harm, but he did. You’re following your gut when you trust Lance. The guilt about being here, and Lance not surfing again though, that’s more along the lines of you depending on each other to push the other person. Lance would usually be swimming and out in the ocean, but just like you're recovering from what you went through with that toxic power; he’s recovering from the worst wipe-out he’s ever had. But you can help him, just like he helped you get back in the water. Just imagine what you can do after you feel comfortable in the actual sea.”

As Keith looked up at the moon that passed over the opening to the hidden moon pool, all he could think was that if it weren’t for Lance pushing him a bit, he wouldn’t be here. Here in the water, in his home and there was no dark, evil power taking hold of him. He was safe in the water’s embrace, even after he had been scared that he wouldn’t be. He wanted Lance to feel just as safe. He looked over to Shiro, who also had his gaze up at the moon. He missed seeing Shiro’s white hair and the scattering of scars and scales on his right arm. The scars from foraging for gems and jewels for his parents’ shop weren’t nearly as noticeable when he was a human.

“Shiro?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t have Lance’s number. Do you think I can get it from you after this?”

“I don’t mind. Why the sudden desire? I thought you’d at least wait for him to show up.”

“I might be a prince, but I’m getting tired of letting people do things for me. Lance and I are suffering from the same thing, and I need to help him as much as he’s helped me.”

“Look at you being a mature member of royalty.” Shiro teased, sputtering when Keith splashed him with water in retaliation. “I’ll have you know that a mer’s powers are much stronger in moon pools.”

“Perfect, we can find out if mers can drown.” Keith said before launching himself at the older mer.

If Adam asked why it sounded like there was a tsunami happening from his spot near the hidden entrance and didn’t get an answer, well who was going to tell?

* * *

Lance dug his toes into the sand. Looking out at the ocean in the early morning still filled him with the same feeling of anticipation. Normally he would be eager to go out and see what the waves would offer. Except now, any thoughts of surfing were also accompanied by nerves that felt too big to get over. The words Coran said on the phone the day before also kept replaying in his mind.

“Well the big bosses understand what you went through, but they wanted to have you do one more competition before the season was over.”

Add in the pressure of having to surf again, while looking for information about the Panthalassa; Lance felt like if something didn’t fix itself soon, he would be heading for a breakdown. He didn’t even try swimming. He went to the pool but he didn’t stay long. The chlorinated pool water wasn’t the same as the constantly changing waves of the ocean. He was fine in the pool; the sea was different.

The only reason he was here this early was because Keith had called him late last night, telling him to come to the beach early. He opted for the part of the beach where it wasn’t sectioned off for surfers. 

He heard something being pulled along the sand and turned to see Keith dragging what looked like a paddle board.

“What are you doing?” he asked, watching Keith dump it, a paddle and what looked like a wetsuit down.

“Pushing you.”

“Huh?”

“You, pushing me to do that tub of sea water thing, was what I needed to get into the water last night. It was a full moon.”

Lance was able to figure that one out. Stories about mermaids being spotted on nights of the full moon and how their power was affected with the phases of the moon and planets.

“I got to go to a moon pool, I felt so much more at home than I have in the past 2 weeks and if you hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t have gotten to feel that again. So now, I’m pushing you.”

Lance looked at the paddleboard. It would be pushing it, a lot, but…he looked up at Keith, who looked more determined than he’d seen him since he first met him. Keith was finally breaking that out of that scared shell, allowing the more confident person to start shining through. He wanted to see more of that. He wanted to feel that confident again.

“You gonna save me again if I drown?”

“Yeah, just try to make sure not too.”

Lance tugged his shirt off and kicked off his shoes, sticking his phone inside them. “Well come on mullet head, you’re gonna need to be in the water if you want to save me.” He said, picking up the board, leaving the paddle to Keith.

“I don’t have a mullet! I don’t even know what that is!” Keith yelled as he picked up the paddle.

“I refuse to believe Adam didn’t show you a picture. The 1990s called, they want to know how one of their hairstyles got loose.”

Lance saw the mer tighten his grip on the paddle like he wanted to whack him with it and decided to head for the waves before Keith decided to do it.

Lance watched as Keith turned into a mermaid in a wave of bubbles. His white hair glowed in the early morning light, making his purple red eyes stand out. He looked really pretty.

Lance shook his head, removing the thought from his head. After that tub moment, Lance was trying not to get sucked into those eyes. He still couldn’t figure out why a simple thank you had made him so flustered. A small voice in his head that sounded like Hunk whispered that maybe he had a crush, but that was ridiculous. He’d just met Keith and he barely knew him. Looks might draw him in but he needed to know a person a bit more before feelings got involved.

“Come on, get on as much as you can. This is gonna be hard enough without your tail dragging in the water.” Lance said, sitting cross legged on the board, as much in the middle he could be while mostly being on one side.

Like he was sitting on his knees, Keith sat on the board, allowing Lance to slowly take them out farther into the sea. When they were far enough, Lance put the paddle on top of his legs.

“So, how are you feeling?” Keith asked.

Lance sat there, listening to the water hit the board, feeling transported to when he’d be sitting out in the water waiting for the next wave.

“I miss it.” He said. “I haven’t been this close to the water since the wipe-out.”

“Do you want to give it a try?”

“Not on this board. It’s way too big. But…do you think you can come again tomorrow? I’ve got an 8 am but I can skip for this.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right here if anything happens.”

  
  



	8. First steps and the search for answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, I actually posted on Sunday! Here is where the fusion of Mermaid Melody is fully seen. Enjoy

“So…”

Lance looked up from his notebook, where he’d been rewriting notes from his humanitarian class. He was gonna meet up with Keith to try surfing for real this time. Keith forcing him onto that paddle board had been a push. He already knew Keith being in the water wouldn’t hurt anything, and if his fear caused him to wipe out, Keith would be there to help him. He also needed to learn to trust himself again. He’d been surfing since he was a kid, and if he let a power filled wave stop him from doing something he loved, then he didn’t deserve the title of best surfer in Altea.

Hunk was looking at Lance. Ever since Lance had recovered from his wipe out, he had been disappearing; off with what Lance said was Shiro’s brother. Except as far as he knew, Shiro didn’t have a brother. He was sure that Lance had somehow in the span of a few days gotten a new boyfriend, in the form of the mullet haired guy who was in their room the other day. Lance went for dinner at the Inn and came back happy, and going red at times, like he remembered something embarrassing and couldn’t stop blushing about it. Hunk had questions.

“You’re up pretty late.” It was 12, this wasn’t that late for them.

Lance could tell Hunk was scrambling for words. “Your point being?”

“Well, you’ve got an 8 am, I thought you’d be halfway through your facial routine by now.”

“I’m not going to class tomorrow morning. I’m gonna go help Adam catch seafood. Apparently, he found this nest for lobsters and he’s got the licences to go catch them and he’s too impatient to wait for the fish markets to open.”

Hunk’s main love was machines and engines, but he was a chef by hobby and he easily understood a chief’s desire for fresh ingredients. But he also didn’t know how much he trusted Lance, willing to get up that early if it wasn’t for surfing. He could tell something was going on. He didn’t know what it was, but he was pretty sure that Keith guy had something to do with it. He just hoped it didn’t end badly.

* * *

Even though Lance had agreed to do this, practically suggested it himself; now, staring at the longboard, he felt nervous. Swimming in a pool was one thing, getting back on the board after he almost drowned was another.

“Here.” Lance looked away from his board and took the mug Shiro handed him. Lance would feel guilty for having him up so early if Shiro wasn’t just coming off the night shift at the Inn already. “Nervous?”

“How can I not be? I try and teach myself to not be scared when I wipe out, but my past wipe outs haven’t been this bad.”

“Well, I know it’s not the same but I got scared of working with oil.”

“Oil?” Lance had been in the kitchen with his family and Hunk enough to know that the splattering of oil could be scary at times but he didn’t understand how it correlated to his nerves over getting into the water.

“You’ve never seen me as a mer, but my right arm is covered in scales and scars that I’ve gotten foraging for items to make jewellery. It’s faint as a human, like my cover is supposed to be picture perfect. When I was first learning how to cook, I also found out that things with a certain water content can trigger my transformation. The oil I was using was one of them but I also got burned. I feel more vulnerable when my tail is out on land, and the hot oil that was hurting my arm wasn’t helping. Of course, humans love fried food, which involves oil. I wanted nothing to do with it, but cooking involves a bit of danger at times. I knew being afraid of something that could harm me wasn’t going to do me any good. Since it had enough water in it, I could stop it from popping too much and hurting me. You and the sea, you’ve got a special relationship. Fearing it will only hurt you later. If you never get back into the water, I know you’ll regret it. The pain can be temporary but if you let it rule over you, it’ll be harder to overcome it.”

Ok, so Shiro had a point. His oil splatter was a small thing in the world he loved, cooking. Water was part of Lance’s. If he feared it, he would never be able to enjoy the world that was surfing.

He took a deep breath. He could do this.

“Thanks, Shiro. Weird analogy and all.”

Shiro shrugged. He knew it was an odd one but if the shoe fit... “Hey, if you could help Keith get over his fear of going in the water, then I know you’ll be ok. Just trust each other.”

Before Lance knew it, he was climbing into the small motorboat, his board safely tucked to the side. He helped Keith down into the boat before starting the motor.

“Good luck.” Adam said, before the two took off. “Think they’ll be ok?”

“They’ll be ok. I know it.” Shiro said.

Lance drove them towards a hidden cove. It was known to surfers but no one used it this early in the morning. It was far and out of the way and if anything happened to the surfer, no one was around to help. This is where Lance decided he’d have Keith create waves for him and not risk anyone seeing the merman.

With the boat docked, he put on his wetsuit, dropped his board into the water and followed in after it. He pulled himself up onto the board, his body already going through the motions as if it was a regular day out on the waves.

“Ready?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

“I’ll go over there and make a wave, just pretend it’s a normal day, ok?”

“Right. Let’s do this.” Lance said, reminding himself to stay calm. It was just like getting back out to the waves after a normal wipe out. Yes, the last one had been scarier, but he could do this. If a mer who was scared to go into the water could get over his fear, he could do the same.

He started to paddle himself out towards more open water, feeling the gentle waves become a bit more aggressive. Small waves started to get bigger and bigger until Lance had to swim through them to get to his desired distance. Even though his heart was beating with nerves, he also felt excited. God, he had missed surfing. Of course, he still had to stand on the board but he could do it. He turned his board around and looked for the best wave. Nothing monster like he’d usually do. Big enough where he could surf but also small enough that if he did wipe out, it would still be ok. When he saw one approach, he readied himself. As the wave came under him, he pushed himself up and stood up, already centring himself to balance.

He was up, and he was ok. It felt a bit like when he was a kid and would use his boogie board to skim board because he wasn’t allowed to actually surf just yet. The wave settled down and he eased himself back down onto his board. He continued on, catching bigger and bigger waves, feeling more and more comfortable. Then it was finally time. The big wave, a wave he could surf with no issue before. He wasn’t asking for whatever wave Keith had accidentally created, just a large wave he knew he could do.

“You’re doing really well.” The early morning light was making Keith’s white hair shine. Lance was once again, trying not to focus on that.

“Yeah, I guess once I was doing it again, all the fear went away.”

Leaning his head on his arms as he rested on Lance’s board, Keith said, “I felt the same way once I started swimming in the ocean again. I had been so focused on the what-ifs of something that hadn’t happened that I wasn’t even thinking.”

“I’ve missed surfing like crazy, but after that scary wipe out, I was really scared to even try again.” Lance let his foot nudge Keith’s tail. “who would've thought helping a scared merman swim again would have pushed me back on the board?”

“Well when this mer is pushy, what else could you expect?”

Lance laughed at Keith. “Alright, alright. Jez, if all mers are like this, how does Adam survive?”

“He was alone with Shiro for a month, he didn't get a choice. Ready for this last one? I can control it from underwater while under your board.”

“Under my board?”

Keith’s face flushed a little. “Well, I like swimming under people’s boards. A lot of them have electric boards which are annoying to my ears but it’s interesting I guess, seeing people glide on water on such a thin board. I don’t remember if I told you, but I actually swam under you when you were in Dubai.”

“Wait, what?”

Keith tapped right where his mermaid sticker would be on the opposite side of the board. “That mer sticker, you were the only one in that heat that didn’t use an electric board. Not to mention the last one I was under before I had to leave. When you were drowning and I saved you, I saw the sticker and realised it was you.”

To think that if by some odd chance, he’d ended up in the water then, he would have met Keith sooner. Then where would his life be?

“Hey, get up here. If you like following the boards, maybe you should try being on one, see what I see.”

“Is the board even big enough?”

It wasn’t really, it would need to be longer, but he’d done this with his niece and nephew. He could do it.

“You're gonna have to curl up really small, but it'll do. Get up here.”

As close as he could possibly get to the front without causing the whole board to flip forward, Keith sat on Lance’s board and controlled the water to create a wave he’d normally be swimming under. Lance guided the board through the curl, letting his hand glance off the water. Lance let out a loud shout, one filled with happiness and delight.

He was surfing, the remaining fear muted by the pure elation of doing what he loved. There was a merman perched on the top of his board, one he was becoming close friends with. This was currently his life and honestly, Lance was loving it.

“Hey, Coran?” Lance had called his sponsor handler after he got back to campus, still reeling over what he’d accomplished. “I’ll be signing up for the Altean Surf Competition. Let’s just say I’ve found a push to surf again.”

While he was excited that he finally felt brave enough to go surfing again, Lance knew he couldn’t take up all his time training. With classes and the dreaded thesis coming up, even though his thesis was pretty much done, he still had to help Keith look for answers. It was great that they were able to meet and depend on each other, but they still needed answers for the thing that brought Keith here. How was he, a mer, able to absorb power that should have absorbed his own? Thankfully for him, the books he’d requested from the library finally arrived.

* * *

“Welcome to the Altean Marine park.” Adam introduced, looking at Keith who followed him. Like many things still, the sight of the busy park amazed Keith. “It’s one of the biggest tourist attractions here because people can have fun and learn how to properly take care of sea wildlife. It is well known for its rehabilitation program, though the animals that live here aren’t able to go back. Only a few participate in the shows and that’s only if they show a love for it. At most, they learn to do the tricks so they can be helpful when they have check-ups or treatments.”

“So, they aren’t trapped here?”

That had been one of the things Keith was worried about when he’d heard about Lance’s job at the marine park, that the sea creatures weren’t happy. Shiro had been able to calm him down and explain how while it would unfortunately be the case for some places, it wasn’t for the Marine Park. The laws protecting sea life were heavy.

“Nope. I think once you meet Blue, you’ll see they’re happy here. Blue loves Lance.”

Keith followed Adam as he dodged the park goers, looking at all the attractions and games. They entered the area focused on marine life, and the noise from the park became muted. Adam took them to an open-air pool where familiar squeaking and chirps filled his ears. 3 dolphins called up to the human standing on the side of the pool, from what Keith could translate, begging for food.

“You 3 act like you weren’t fed this morning. You know the rules you guys, treats when you do the trick. Now stop squeaking at me.” Lance complained as he put his whistle to his lips and blew two short whistles.

Keith watched the dolphins duck back into the water and swim to one end of the pool before jumping out of the water in a huge leap he’d only seen Kosmo accomplish. When they dove back in, Lance blew another long whistle and one dolphin took another leap, spinning in the air before joining their friends back in front of Lance where he fed them 3 fish each.

“Good job guys! I’m very impressed,” he praised. “Including you, Blue. I knew you could do that leap.”

Keith didn’t need to be able to understand dolphins to know how happy Blue, the spinning dolphin, was at the praise she got.

“Lance!” Adam called as they came closer to the pool.

“Hey guys!” Lance replied, waiting for them to reach him before giving a hand gesture and quickly pulling Keith out of the way as one of the dolphins splashed Adam.

“Ahh! Lance!”

Keith and Lance burst into laughter, the dolphins joining them. Adam glared at the two as he dripped water.

“Come on Adam, I do this all the time. How were you not expecting it?” Lance said, trying to control himself.

“You are an asshole and I hope you slip on your way out of here. Drop him off at the Inn when you're done. Be ready for revenge Keith. It will be bad.”

Lance was still giggling as Adam stormed off. “Ignore him. Just pout at Shiro and he’ll protect you. Allow me to introduce to you Red, Blue and Yellow; aka, the primary group.”

“The what?”

“Primary colours. Red, blue and yellow are colours that can’t be created by mixing. It’s a whole thing. Blue is my baby, feel free to give her tons of praise.” Lance said, sounding like a proud father.

Keith looked at the dolphins and focused. He was sure Lance would guess he talked to dolphins out loud, but why do that when you can talk to sea life with your mind?

**“I’m sure he loves all of you equally.”** He said, seeing that he startled the dolphins. No doubt they had never met a mer in their lives, but they were quick to bounce back. It seemed the way to talk to mers were ingrained in their DNA.

**“You’re a mer! I’ve only heard about you from visiting dolphins!”** Yellow said.

**“And of course, he loves us. He just treats Blue like a princess because she’s as stubborn as him.”** Red added.

**“There goes the bubble tipped anemone calling the frog spawn puffy.”** Blue squeaked.

Red poked at Blue, who poked back and the two started squeaking and clicking at each other.

Lance sighed. “There they go again. You know Red had been pregnant when she came here right? Her baby was able to be released into the wild but Red hadn’t been doing well. We were lucky that Red’s old pod was close and accepted her baby. Blue had been giving her food and they’re close, but they always seem to find something to argue about.”

Keith smirked at himself, hoping to surprise Lance even more. He opened his mouth and squeaked at the dolphins to knock it off.

“Holy shit! You can speak dolphin?”

“I can also talk to them telepathically, but yes. Most mers are taught how to speak dolphin. Shiro’s really bad at it though. He can make sounds, but he’s more likely to insult your mother than anything.”

The awed look was back in Lance’s eyes, it was the same anytime he was introduced to a new piece of mer lore. “That’s so cool.”

Keith shook his head, trying to ignore the warm feeling praise from Lance gave him. “Did you bring the books?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, in my locker. Let me take them back to their pools and I’ll show you.”

“I can do it, if they want to show me.”

Lance shrugged. Most of the dolphin trainers were busy doing paperwork for grants, so there was no risk of getting caught.

Keith dived into the water, taking in the slightly stale saltwater. It wasn’t bad, just not as fresh as the ocean.

**“So, who’s gonna show me your main pool?”**

**“I will!”** Yellow called, leading the group.

Lance followed, his gaze focused on the red tail, the same red as the scale hanging around his neck. It was still mind boggling that he was friends with a merman – not counting Shiro, he hadn’t known he was a merman. He wondered what would happen when they found the answers to Keith’s questions. Would he leave? Would Lance ever hear from him again? Would he stay? Would he even be able to? He was a prince, what if he had duties, he needed to take care of?

Lance tried not to focus on that. They had to find answers first. He left Keith to interact with the dolphins in their pools while he went to go get his bag. Usually it would be pretty light, with only his notebooks, pencil case and maybe a textbook; but this was like he had added every overpriced text book in existence to his bag. He was pretty surprised the school’s library had info on Panthalassa and mermaids, let alone the amount that was delivered to him. He hoped they could find some answers in the books.

He sat in his usual spot on the dock, close enough to still interact with the dolphins but far enough where if they got any ideas, he wouldn’t get all his things wet. He watched Keith convince Red to pull him along in the pool. She wouldn’t even let trainers she liked do that.

“How did you manage to get her to do that?” Lance called.

“She offered.”

Of course, she did, the brat.

Keith pulled himself away and after he evaporated the water from his body, he joined Lance. His eyes widened at the sight of the large pile of books Lance dumped from his bag.

“Is this everything?”

“Most of it. There were a lot of fiction books I left back at my dorm. So how should we do this? One person looks for mer info, and the other looks for Panthalassa?”

“Well it’s the connection mers have with the Panthalassa that I’m mostly interested in, but if we do find something separate that might be of help.”

And so, they started. To anyone watching, they would have seen two college kids studying, not trying to find answers to a problem almost no one knew about. A lot of what they were finding, were things they already knew. The Panthalassa had targeted mers for their power until they were destroyed. They had fearsome weapons to boost their powers. Some info was new, about the supposed uprising that happened in Japan. For a week, a dark castle had appeared from beneath the waves and the sea seemed to be in turmoil. Just as sudden as the castle appeared, it sunk back into the sea in a flash of white. Months later, another odd occurrence happened when pillars of twisting light fell from the sky and a figure with 3 pairs of wings appeared in the sky. Within hours the pillars had disappeared and nothing more ever happened.

There was nothing even hinting about a mer taking power from another mer, like the Panthalassa did. Lance was starting to feel overheated and thirsty, so he shoved another unhelpful book back in his bag and turned to get Keith’s attention. The mer prince was focused on the book in his hands. When Lance saw the cover, he raised an eyebrow.

“Keith, that’s a fiction book.” He recognised the cover from the series that had been delivered from the library.

“That can’t be right. This book is talking about a place called the Kingdom of Somegoro. It’s a kingdom of shapeshifting sea animals. Every bit of information this book mentions is correct. I remember from my history classes.”

That was odd. A lot of mermaid stories had made up lore. For a kingdom to be exactly how Keith remembered it, something didn’t add up.

“Who’s the author?” he asked.

“L. Domoto. There’s no picture.” Keith said, showing Lance the ‘about author’ page. Just a picture of a surfboard keychain with a hibiscus in the middle.

“‘Grew up near the North Pacific Ocean and then moved to Japan, where she met her husband, they were high school sweethearts. While he made a name for himself on the surfing circuit, she made a name for herself writing about the dreams she’d have about mermaids. They live in Osaka, where she continues to write near the ocean.’ Domoto, why do I know that name?”

“And why does this person know so much about mer lore?”


	9. A few answers and even more questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this will get updated regularly. But hey, a gift for Lance's birthday.

Lance paced back and forth in front of the pool where the dolphins were waiting to go perform. Just yesterday, he and Keith had been researching, hoping for an answer for what happened to Keith. How a mer could absorb the power taken by the Panthalassa. They hadn’t found an answer but they found something else. A set of fictional stories that had real places that only a mer would know. Keith had sped through the book and found more things he recognised from his own studies. L. Domoto. Why did that last name sound so familiar?

“Lance, we’re about to start. Is the gate open?” Plaxum called.

“Coming!” Lance opened the gate and gave a slow whistle, signalling the pod of dolphins to wait before he joined the other trainer.

“Welcome everyone! Welcome to the Altea Marine Park and welcome to our show!”

Lance turned on his mic and gave a big smile. “We ask everyone to please give a very warm welcome to our special performers! These sea dancers love performing for you all so please give them a hand!” At the sound of the whistle, the dolphins came lining up in front of their trainers, already looking for their signals. As he and Plaxum gestured for their dolphins to start the show, he pushed the name to the back of his mind. His focus needed to be on the dolphins. He could worry about the mer prince after the show.

* * *

Keith scanned the pages as he mindlessly ate his bagel, not seeming to notice the jam he was getting on his face.

“Keith, your mouth.” Adam said, catching the prince’s attention. “Is the book that interesting?” He asked, handing him a napkin.

“It’s more than that. The stuff in this book, the locations and the lore, it’s all real. I can’t imagine a human just guessed all this stuff correctly.”

Adam took the book out of Keith’s hand and looked at the author page. Like Lance, he thought the last name looked familiar. “Surfing circuit?”

“That’s what it says. Lance said he’d look it up when he got back to his dorm. I just don’t know how much I want to trust a human for answers about the Panthalassa.”

“That’s a fair point.” Adam said, handing the book back. “But if the human does know this much, there’s a good chance they could be like me.”

He hadn’t thought about that. Adam knew a lot about mers because he was married to one. Maybe this L. Domoto knew a lot because she had known a mer.

“Just how many humans know the truth about mers?”

“Real question is how many of them have true intentions, because they know the truth and haven’t said a word. Like a certain surfer, where’s Lance anyway?”

“Class. You’re his boss, you should know.”

Adam pouted. Keith didn’t realise where his teasing was going. Adam couldn’t help it though; Keith and Lance had bonded rather quickly. He knew it wasn’t like how he and Shiro had fallen for each other, sudden and quick, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a slightest bit of fun embarrassing Keith. If he got the point.

“You disappeared early this morning. Did you two meet up?”

“He had to practise for the surfing competition coming up. I went to the Isle.”

Adam sighed. He gave up. “Other than reading the book, any other ideas on how to find more info?”

“Not really. If I actually knew other mers I could ask. I’m just worried that if I even try to get near a mer kingdom, my family might figure out where I am and I don’t know, capture me or something.”

Adam felt for Keith, this was more than just leaving home. Keith couldn’t give his family an answer as to why he disappeared without putting them in danger.

He hoped answers would come soon. Keith deserved them so he could finally talk to his family. Though, a small part of him was sad that when Keith got his answers, he’d leave. He’d miss having the wild prince at the Inn.

* * *

Thace sat in the quiet, as his gold eyes took in the subtle sea elements within the room. Most would assume the decorator had a healthy love of the sea, not that they were a mer hiding within the world of humans. A cup was set in front of him, bringing him back to the man sitting in front of him. His bright blue hair flopped in front of his face but was mostly kept out of the way with a bandanna, his dark eyes shining from underneath.

“So, the prince is missing. Always told the council that something like this would happen. He wasn’t happy with the banishment of his best friend, was he? They keep the queen chained to the throne since she’s not an actual Pearl Royal herself. They don’t seem to realise that Aqua Regina helps the ruling member choose the next person to protect the kingdom. The council knew what they were doing, it’s history repeating itself.”

“Yes, except we’re lucky that the disappearance of our prince didn’t involve the destruction of our kingdom. Though, with Poseidon’s Trident still active, it’s a possibility. Blaytz, you’re the only mer from the Indian Ocean Kingdom that left on your own terms and still have contact with the kingdom. Would you also happen to have contact with people who were forced to leave the kingdom?”

“Why? Do you think one of the forsaken had something to do with what happened? The queen was forced to turn her back on these people, and I made a promise that I’d protect the people she was forced not to help because of that damned council.”

“The queen thinks Keith went to find Shiro. He was banished no more than a few years ago; he fell in love with a human.”

Thace understood Blaytz’s anger with the council. They were so stuck on the rules that had re-founded the kingdom, that they refused to see that those rules had been the things that destroyed it the first time. They were so stuck on appearances that they were going to ruin their kingdom ‘trying’ to save it. Keith’s disappearance felt like a beginning. The rest of the Blades were getting information on the Panthalassa as the queen had instructed, while he dealt with Keith. He hoped that if he could find Keith, Aqua Regina would finally appear and change things.

“I might know where he is. Can I be sure you aren’t going to hurt him? Shiro was lucky his love for the human was true when he was banished. Most don’t get that option or even survive long enough to earn it.”

“I just need to know where Keith is and that he’s safe. I need to know what happened.”

Blaytz stared at Thace before letting out a sigh, “I hope you plan on keeping your promise. Don’t drag the boy back if he doesn’t want to go.” After Thace nodded, promising to keep his word, Blaytz said, “The isle of Altea is where Shiro was planning to stay with his human. I don't know if he is still there.”

“Altea?”

“I don’t recall which kingdom has the Caribbean countries in their realm. I do know, there Is a moon pool nearby. I’d talk to any pods you pass, you're more likely to get directions from them.”

Blaytz wasn’t making this easy for him but then again, why make it easy when there was a chance of a mer getting harmed? Thace just hoped this wasn’t a tailslap to the face in the end.

* * *

Lance couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Finding the name Domoto in surfing wasn’t as hard as he’d thought. He just grabbed old surfing magazines he’d brought with him to college and got lost in the world of greats, both old and new; and the confidence building words of those who were just rising to the top. It was in an article of the greats based on region, that he’d found Domoto.

Kaito Domoto, surfing champion for the Eastern Competition. Had been since he was 15, and there were a lot of stories. His girlfriend, and eventual wife, was Lucia Nanami, who apparently used to live by the North Pacific Ocean – that was her answer to where she used to live. The reporter had taken it to mean she moved a lot, but Lance had a feeling it meant something else. Kaito had apparently gone missing for a few days, but claimed he needed to get away and hadn’t realised his message didn’t get through to friends and family. He went to Hawaii to meet people who knew his parents but ended up in an accident that caused him to lose his memories. He stayed with famed conductor Rihito Amagi while recovering even though he was taking care of his younger sister at the time. The reporter was confused about the age of the sister though, stating he was sure a girl of the same name went to school with Kaito but she was also 10 years old at the time of the interview.

A lot of the strange things that happened to Kaito seemed to line up with the odd occurrences in Japan. The picture depicted a confident looking ginger, his spiky hair framing his face in a way that if he was younger, Lance definitely would have been interested in. It was the spiky hair that was catching though. According to his book on members of the Panthalassa clan, male members were known for their spiky hair, but it was the tattoo on Kaito’s wrist that was the biggest factor. Lance almost didn’t notice it, had it not been for a candid picture of Kaito teasing his wife by throwing her over his shoulder. He had a firm grip on her legs and it was just at that angle that Lance saw it. It looked like a cross, but it also had the curved legs of a spider on top of it, with extra strokes on the cross part.

Lance looked at the open page of the Panthalassa Clan. There was a chart on what was believed to be markings on the Panthalassa Clan. Kaito’s tattoo was one of the first ones. Lance looked back at the picture of Kaito and Lucia. There were several pictures of her, like her husband. She always sported a pink seashell necklace with wings. It was a simple necklace but Lance could tell it was more than that. If Kaito was a member of the Panthalassa clan, then how did she fit in? Was she a mer? If she was, that meant Kaito wasn’t a threat to her. Could there be good Panthalassa?

He had too many questions and not enough answers. One thing at a time though. He grabbed his phone and texted a picture to Shiro to give to Keith. He was getting ready to head to class when he got a reply.

Shiro: Why does a guy who has a tattoo of the Panthalassa have a girlfriend who has the necklace of a Pearl Royal?

Pearl Royal? As in the people who held the keys to summon Aqua Regina? The goddess who destroyed the Panthalassa Clan?

“At this rate, it’ll be years until we can finally get to the question of what happened to Keith. All these other questions keep coming up, we might never actually get an answer.” Lance said to himself.

* * *

“Kaito Domoto. He was really popular back in the day. A lot of people were impressed with how long he held his winning streak, even when he came back after his accident. Everyone said his lucky charm was his girlfriend. She was at almost all of his competitions and ones she wasn’t there for, he said he knew she was close by. Of course, if she was a mer, that would make a lot of sense. That would explain how some people saw her at competitions in a completely different place but never saw her on the plane ride over.” Adam said flipping through an old surfing magazine, leaning against the front desk in the Inn. “He had a love for mermaids too from what I’ve heard.”

Keith was more focused on the picture Lance had sent. The necklace Luchia was wearing, it was definitely a Pearl Royal necklace. They all looked the same, except for the colour which deviated depending on the Kingdom. The North Pacific Ocean Kingdom was known for their pinky-red tails. Their most famous princess was known for her pink tail and a voice that sounded like Aqua Regina’s. She was also known for fighting the rising of the Panthalassa Clan and fending off an attack by the Ancients, at least, that’s how the story went. Any story about Queen Sara had a mention of her.

If Luchia was the Pearl Princess of the North Pacific Ocean, then it would make sense why Keith knew all the places and lore in her book. It was her world, but humans would be none the wiser. It begged the question about her husband then. Was he a member of the Panthalassa? The council talked about how Sara chose love over her kingdom, even at the end of her life. Well, if Luchia got married to a Panthalassa member, how come her kingdom wasn’t also in shambles?

“If he was a Panthalassa, then he couldn’t be evil. Do you think...the story of Queen Sara could also be connected?” Keith asked Shiro.

“The time frame would match, I think. Queen Sierra ruled over our kingdom for over 30 years. 3 years before that they were rebuilding the kingdom again. And she was brought to life almost a year after Queen Sara died.” Shiro said, lining up all the dates.

“And my mother has ruled my whole life, so that’s about 20 years, maybe more. We found a book about the possibility of resurrecting the Panthalassa. I wonder if those sightings in Japan are the same ones from our stories.”

“A very big possibility. Actually...” Shiro trailed off. “Back when I first left the kingdom, I met a mer living on land. He knew a lot about our history, even though he apparently isn’t from the kingdom. We were talking about the stories of Queen Sara and Sierra when he mentioned a prophecy that involved a pair of twin Panthalassa. Apparently, they were the only Panthalassa surviving. Sara joined the Panthalassa because she felt abandoned. If this Kaito guy was a Panthalassa and left behind the one from the stories, his brother; then it's likely the brother was the one who felt abandoned, and that would make him a kindred spirit of Sara’s.”

Keith sighed. He wanted one simple answer, but the bed of algae was getting more and more tangled as time went on. Did these twin Panthalassa have anything to do with what happened? How did a relationship between a Panthalassa and a mer work? Answers weren’t becoming any clearer, they remained murky, like the waters Keith felt he was swimming through.

  
  



	10. A realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, sorry it's late but hope you like it

Lance had always prided himself on how long he could hold his breath for when swimming. It always felt like hours, until the feeling of breathlessness kicked in. Now it was different. Thanks to the red orange scale that now had a home in a necklace around his neck, now he could breath for hours.

If only breathing for hours under water made things easier. It had been days and they were no closer to getting answers for Keith. While he was able to distract the mer prince by getting him to come surfing with him, he could tell the lack of answers was getting to him. Not to mention, L. Domoto and the fact that she was possibly involved with a member of the Panthalassa Clan. It would be great if they could get answers from her, but according to Keith, Queen Sierra and Luchia would have ruled around the same time and Sierra had passed away before Keith was born, so there was little hope for Luchia to still be around.

Lance swam to the surface where his board was being held in place by a familiar tail. He broke through and watched Keith who had the human half of his body draped over the board, eyes closed as if he was asleep. The more time passed, the more Lance kept noticing certain things. Like how Keith’s eyes would light up when he learned a new human thing. Or, how his smirk looked really cute. Or, how whether white or black, his hair looked so soft, even when soaking wet and pressed against his face.

Lance had been telling Hunk the truth that time, about how he didn’t have a crush on Keith but that was starting to change. It seemed like the more time he spent with Keith, the more he kept noticing. Like how Keith liked sitting on the deck at the Cafe because he enjoyed the sun, how he hated dealing with anything electronic that wasn’t a phone because the brightness messed with his eyes. Or how even when Lance wasn't surfing Keith liked floating under his board.

He wasn’t about to poke that bear. No way. He had way too much to deal with. Classes, working on his thesis, practising for the surf competition, working at the Cafe and the Marine Park and looking for answers. Yeah, possible crushes were going to have to take a back seat.

“I’m going surfing after class. We usually go near the cafe, if you want to join us.” Lance asked, poking at Keith’s arm.

“Hmm.” Keith hummed. Lance could feel Keith’s tail brush against his legs as he moved more. “Maybe.”

“You're not going to go searching through the book any, more are you?”

With all the extra questions, Shiro suggested they take a break from looking for answers, though Keith didn’t seem to understand that at first. He would be up all hours of the night, scoring through books of information until the early hours. It had taken a heavy scolding, similar to ones he’d get from his mother, to finally get him to stop.

“No, but Shiro promised that he would try to go look for mer pods. They might have information. I guess a big part of me really just wants answers so I can tell my mom what happened.”

Lance couldn’t blame him for that. He fully admitted to being a momma’s boy. After his wipe out, his mother called him constantly wondering if he was ok. If he disappeared with no explanation, he knew his mother would be worried.

“We’ll find answers. Trust me.”

“I do.”

That was when Lance realised that maybe hiding his feelings was going to be a bit harder than he thought.

* * *

Thace walked, taking a good look around him. His trips to the surface, like most mers from the Indian Ocean Kingdom, weren’t frequent. He hoped the clothes Blaytz had arranged for him didn’t stand out too much amongst the short and flowy clothes. Though he had to admit, the tight leather clothes were probably one of the ways Blaytz was getting back at him.

Altea was nice, different from the Indian countryside he enjoyed, and as he walked up the pier and boardwalk his mind reviewed what Blaytz had told him.

“Last I heard from Shiro, his human had a seaside cafe.”

Of course, just from look alone, there were a lot of sea side cafes.

“Excuse me?” He stopped a man with long honey brown hair that was pulled up into a ponytail. “I’m looking for a particular cafe. I don’t recall the name, but it’s owned by the husband of a friend of mine. His name is Shiro.”

“Oh! You must mean the Weiss Beach Café. Shiro’s husband owns that place.”

“Yes, that’s it. Do you think you could point it out to me?” Thace asked, hoping his search would end there.

“I’ll do you one better. I’m on my way over, I can show you.”

Thace agreed, hoping the walk over would be quiet but clearly the human wasn’t the best at reading cues.

“I’m Matt. This your first time in Altea?”

“Yes. Here to pick up my nephew.”

“Cool, cool. I didn’t catch your name.”

Thace rolled his eyes. “Thace.”

“Interesting name. Are you from India like Shiro?”

“Yes.” Were all humans this talkative? He was used to the general quietness of the Blades. At least they could tell when he didn’t want to talk.

“That’s really cool. Where specifically? I never get an answer from him when I ask.”

“Near the ocean.” Gods below, humans just loved to talk. Keith was a quiet person; how did he survive here?

“Oh, here it is!”

‘Finally.’ Thace thought. He walked into the restaurant, watching the abundance of humans, most barely dressed and still wet. He’d have to be careful around them.

“That’s Adam.” He looked to where Matt was pointing and saw a man with glasses, his brown hair flopping in his face, much like Shiro’s. So that was the human Shiro disobeyed rules for.

“Excuse me.” Thace moved out of the way as a young man, about Keith’s age, holding a board came in. It was the person who was following him that made Thace pause. “Keith, you go order while I change.”

Thace saw the prince, his bangs pulled away from his face and seemingly unbothered that he was ordered around by a human. Keith didn’t even notice him at first, which was odd. Keith could always pick him out of a crowd.   
  
Keith had spent the afternoon Shiro gave him off watching Lance regain his standing as the most talented surfer, as he conquered more and more waves. He had just reached the bar where Adam was working, when he finally noticed him.

“Adam! It’s Thace!”

“Who?”

“Thace! He is head of the Blades, the Kingdom’s top guards!”

He could tell Adam thought the same thing he was. Thace was here to drag Keith back. Keith was scared, sure Thace thought he had something to do with Poseidon’s Trident being activated.

“Get behind the counter.” Adam ordered, his eyes never leaving Thace who was blocked by a group of beach goers.

Keith ducked behind the bar, nervous about not being able to see what was going on, but he trusted Adam.

“Excuse me,” Thace called, “that boy....”

“Attention everyone!” Adam interrupted him, nudging Keith with one hand while picking up the drink hose with his other. “It’s time for a Splash Down!”

Keith had only experienced a Splash Down once. According to Lance, Adam got the idea from some movie where if a person asked for water at a bar, they were asking to get hosed down with it. It only happened on hotter days, or for an event. It had been one of the hottest days Keith had experienced, and he had taken a huge risk forgoing a shirt, when it happened. Lance was working that day and after hearing the shout, Lance had chucked one of the towels they used to wipe the seats down at him. Not two seconds later, both drink hoses were spraying down willing customers.

Now, Keith could hear the confused customers and the eager people coming to the front of the bar to get splashed.

“And our first victim is this guy right here, who begged for us to do it!”

Now he understood why he was being nudged. The hose was right over where he was hiding. He started to move closer to Adam when he saw Lance poking his head around the corner. Seeing he had Keith’s attention, he gestured him over holding one of the restaurant’s towels in his hand. Keith didn’t think, he just moved, letting Lance put the towel over him and lead him out the front door. He could hear Thace trying to get his attention before he was cut off by a spray of water. He was safe for now. Thace only had two options, hide before the water took effect, or use his power to evaporate it and get caught by every human watching.

* * *

“Who was that?”

“Thace, he’s the Captain on the Guard. I can’t believe Adam actually sprayed him.”

“Well, hopefully it keeps him busy. Come on, I’m sure he’ll go looking for Shiro next. Can’t be a coincidence he ended up at Adam’s cafe and just ‘happened’ to find you.” Lance said, pulling Keith down the path.

“So, where are we going?” Keith asked, pulling the towel off his head, trying to keep up with Lance’s steps.

“The one place he’d never even think to look for you. My room.”

Lance had a point. Thace would never think to look for him in a human’s room.

“You left your board.”

“I was changing in the staff changing room. My board’s not going anywhere.”

Keith still felt bad. They were sitting in the shuttle that took them back to Altea University. Lance had only agreed to come to the cafe because Keith said he was getting hungry. Maybe if they had stayed out on the beach, Thace wouldn’t have found him. Though, knowing Thace, he would not stop till he did.

“Shiro won’t be in any trouble with him, right?” Lance asked.

Keith shook his head, even though he didn’t feel confident in his answer. “Shiro was banished and hasn’t made any contact with the kingdom. He barely even interacts with other kingdoms.”

“He won’t...hurt him, will he?”

“Well, Thace might be the head of the guard, but Shiro has gone to the deepest depths to get jewels. I don’t think he’ll scare easily.”

“Well that, and there is a drink hose in the Inn dining room. He could pull an Adam and spray him down.”

That image made Keith laugh, feeling better than he felt before. Lance looked pleased with himself.

“Are you sure it’s gonna be ok for me to be in your room?”

“Yeah. It’ll give me an excuse to start my homework early, anyway. I’ve been putting off working on a lab report.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Sure, I wouldn’t just distract you?”

“I’m sure I’ll survive.”

Keith hadn’t been to Lance’s room as often as Lance was over at the Inn, but he still felt safe here. He laid himself against Lance’s many pillows, as Lance pulled his laptop and his notes; and after setting up mood music, lost himself in his lab report. Keith didn’t mind not having anything to do, the calm was nice, it gave him time to think. It was almost a month since he’d come to Altea and he was no closer to finding answers. No closer to finding out how he activated Poseidon’s Trident and had absorbed the stolen power. He was no closer to figuring out if Kaito Domoto was connected to what could be Queen Sara’s Panthalassa lover. Did it matter if he was? Well kind of, that would mean that not all Panthalassa were as evil as the council painted them to be. 

He wished he had the actual story, not just rumours passed around for almost 60 years. Clearly the Panthalassa were more than just power mongers. If the last two Panthalassa alive choose mers over taking revenge, didn’t that mean they had hearts?

“I’m a little worried. Will that Thace guy try and hurt Adam?” Lance asked, his attention pulled from his work.

“He won’t. We’ve been taught to stay away from humans, to never harm them. Well, taught and ordered. I’ve been thinking that if Luchia found love with a Panthalassa, just like Queen Sara did, then shouldn’t it be celebrated, not feared?”

“Well, you did say the council lied to Sara, and the same council made the rules you follow now. Fear creates control. Your mom didn’t want to banish Shiro right?” Keith nodded. “But she’s bound by the rules of the council? Maybe, if they were removed and you guys had a better understanding of your history, things wouldn’t be as bad as they are.”

That was true. His mother never did like the council, but she always said such big changes would have to be blessed by Aqua Regina. In his opinion, waiting on the appearance of a sea goddess wasn’t going to help things get better.

“What are you working on?” He asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Effects of unacclimated fish in water. Hey, don’t look at me like that. We used goldfish.”

Keith sighed. As safe as he felt in Lance’s room, all these confusing thoughts weren’t making him feel the best.

The door opened and Hunk blinked at the sight of Keith sitting on Lance’s bed.

“Uhh?” Hunk started.

“Hey buddy. I thought your English class ran longer.” Lance asked.

“We got let out early because our next essay is due. I thought you were out surfing.”

“Oh, uh...” Lance trailed off.

“I had the afternoon off,” Keith answered instead, “but I got heatstroke. Adam was too busy to look after me, so Lance said I could just relax here.” He’d already gotten a lecture from Shiro about how lying in the sun would make him sick, how it wasn’t like being a mer and relaxing on the rocks.

“Oh, are you ok? Why didn’t you go back to the Inn?”

“Shiro wants me working more when it gets closer to the competition.” Keith said.

Hunk dropped his bag by his bed and collapsed on it. “It’s coming up really soon. In what, like 3 weeks? I hope you're ready to defend your title Lance. I plan on taking it.”

Lance stuck his tongue out. “My biggest supporter becomes my biggest rival. Is nothing sacred here?”

“I mean if it means he wins, not really.” Keith threw in, smirking at the insulted sound Lance let out.

“Rude! Keith, how could you?”

“Fine, how about this? Hunk proposed, “If you win, I’ll buy you that mermaid wind chime we saw at Tourist Central. If I win, you have to ask your mom to give me the recipe for the Dulce de Leche cake. I don’t know what she does, but I can’t replicate that thing for the life of me.” Hunk offered.

“Tourist Central? Dulce de Leche?” Keith questioned.

“Tourist Central is what we call this huge store that all the tourists love going to, to get their souvenirs. Dulce de Leche is a cake my mom likes making with condensed milk. It’s to die for, but my mom refuses to give out her recipe, so Hunk's trying everything he can think of to get it.” Lance explained.

“What kind of cake do you like Keith? I don’t have homework, so I might do some baking.” Hunk offered.

“Uhhh….” Keith trailed off.

“What do you usually eat for your birthday?” Lanced asked.

“Uhhh...” His birthday usually meant a large party, with him hiding in the corner or sneaking out to swim with Kosmo. Food was usually fish and kelp. Sweets were candied roe, which Keith hated. “I don’t really do cake.”

“That settles it. I’ll make you a cake for your birthday. I’m really good at guessing a person’s flavour.” Hunk boasted. “When is your birthday?”

“October 23nd.”

“That’s after the competition.” Lance stated. Keith nodded. Shiro had been the one to point it out to him.

“Now you have to give me the recipe.” Hunk said.

“Give it a rest Hunk. Are you really going to tell me Keith’s a condensed milk person? Really?”

The two dissolved into bickering, giving Keith something to focus on, other than the questions that had been plaguing him earlier.

* * *

Chlorine was uncomfortable. How did humans not get bothered by this?

“You plan on moving sometime soon?” Lanced asked, floating above the mer who had taken residence on the pool floor. If this were an actual human, Lance would have been concerned. Instead Keith looked like a sulking child.

“This water feels weird.”

“Well technically, you are a salt water creature. Ooh, shame I can’t add this into my lab report.” Lance joked, dodging Keith attempting to swat him with his tail. “I offered to go swimming out in the sea.”

“Not with Thace still here. Are you sure Shiro hasn’t said anything?”

When they went to dinner with still no word from Adam or Shiro about Thace, Keith had started to worry and had Lance text Shiro many times.

“Not since the last time you asked, like 3 minutes ago. Come on, you wanted to swim and we have the whole pool to ourselves. Just relax a little.”

“I am relaxed. Since coming up on land, and getting over my fear of water, it has helped me relax. Just being in it is keeping me from going and attacking Thace, or at least begging him to leave me alone.”

Lance put his hand on one side of Keith’s head, trying to keep himself still. “Panicking isn’t going to help. I know you're nervous but Shiro has the same powers as you, and he’s in his own territory. Thace would have to be really desperate to reveal himself.”

Keith felt himself relax a bit more. Just like he somehow knew he could trust Lance when he had first met him, he knew he could believe Lance now. Being around Lance felt safe and fun and... wait. Did he...? Keith sprung up, hitting his head against Lance’s. The sudden move surprised him so much, Lance inhaled water and started choking. He swam back to the surface and coughed up the water that had gotten into his lungs, yelling at Keith.

Keith could hear him; he was just too busy trying to calm his red face. Did he...like Lance? Like, actually like him?

  
  



	11. Avoiding something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The play is finally over! I have time until I figure out my work situation with everything going on, so hopefully I won't forget. Enjoy

“Excuse me? What did you say?” Krolia stared Thace down, and he bowed his head meekly. She’d never seen him like this. Probably because she’d never heard a situation quite like what he had just told her.

“I got sprayed with water and then was stuck in the bathroom for ages, invisible because people kept coming in so I couldn’t evaporate the water.”

“You got sprayed with water? You?”

Thace seemed to fold in on himself more. Krolia felt bad, but she had to know.

“Shiro’s human; he was protecting Keith, I guess. Keith ducked down behind the counter and the next thing I know, I got sprayed with water and Keith is gone.”

Krolia had to admit, Shiro’s human had guts. She wished she had been able to meet him before Shiro left. Good to know he was protective.

“But he is there, isn’t he?” Krolia asked.

Thace nodded. “He saw me as well. That’s why he hid.”

Why would her son hide from Thace? Did he… did he have anything to do with the Trident? She bit her lip. If he did, she knew exactly why he ran off. Why had she never explained things to him?

“What is the name of this place? Altea?”

“Yes, it’s a Caribbean island, but small. It has an isle with a moon pool nearby.” Thace reported.

“Your majesty.” Ulaz came swimming into the room, a mermaid following him. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back with many shell adorned clips and her tail was as pink as a rose bubble tip anemone. “This is Princess Mika, second in line for the throne of the North Pacific Ocean. She was sent by her sister, the queen, to speak with you.”

“I wasn’t aware that you were coming for a visit.” Even with the task of looking for her son, she should have been aware of any visits from other kingdoms.

“I have information about the Panthalassa, your majesty. We were told you were looking for information,” the girl answered.

“Ah, yes. I apologize, things have been a bit crazy. Please, come this way. Thace, Ulaz, deal with the other guards, they’ve been a mess without your guidance.

“Yes, your majesty.” The two animal like mers said, before swimming out and leaving the two royals alone.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you in my history classes.” Princess Mika said.

“Good things, I hope. I know our kingdom isn’t always seen in the best light.”

“Not to me. My mother would always tell us stories about Queen Sara and Queen Sierra. I don’t remember the late queen much. I was very young when she passed, but I hear she was in great company when she went.”

Krolia smiled to herself, remembering the orange haired girl, who was barely older than herself and had such a childlike energy about her. She was gone much too soon, in Krolia’s opinion, but the healers had said that her broken heart had weakened her greatly.

“I would like to think so. It shames me that her memory is smeared, over something so small.” Krolia said, cursing the council in her mind once again.

“The council at home isn't much better. They aren’t very big fans of my father, or my mother’s choices once my sister took the throne. In fact, they might help you with your Panthalassa information.”

“I know a bit of your father. We had similar acquaintances.” Krolia said, looking away from the blue eyes staring at her. “If you have any information about the weapons, that would be helpful.”

“I know more about the Staff. I mean, my father was one of the Panthalassa of legend, it’s no surprise. Thankfully he can still talk to his brother even beyond the grave. As far as I know, the weapons would calm in the hands in a Panthalassa and awaken in their hands as well. If a mer had touched it, such as me or my sister, it would have activated again.” Mika explained.

“Really? That makes sense.” Krolia said.

“I still don’t understand why this history has been wiped from the record.” The princess commented, “I mean, they were our enemies before being destroyed, but the Panthalassa has been a part of the Indian Ocean Kingdom’s history for so long.”

“Shame, I suppose. If it hadn’t been erased, perhaps things would have been easier for us. We wouldn’t have so many rules and perhaps I wouldn’t be so scared.” Krolia said. A fear that had been holding her hostage since her arrival in the kingdom.

“It’s just, Queen Sara and Queen Sierra, they were always talked about so fondly by my mother. She didn’t know Sara that well, but she often spoke about how she admired her for following her heart. It made her happy in the end, and that is what mattered the most.”

“I suppose that’s why your mother decided to live on the surface with your father.”

Mika shrugged. “Visiting was hard at times, and I know they missed us as much as we did them, but with mom’s writing and dad’s surfing career, they had things to keep them occupied. Plus getting away from mer drama was a huge breather for them.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever been on land.”

“You should try it, if you ever have time. Sometimes being amongst humans can help make things seem clearer.”

* * *

Lance shook his head, letting the water fly from his hair. Technically, he shouldn’t be surfing now, he had a chunk of his thesis due soon. He needed to actually write it out, but he’d been practically writing his thesis since he started college, so he could get away with a bit of slacking. Plus, he needed something else to focus on other than Keith. The mer prince had been acting weird. It would have been easy to just brush it off as fear of one of his guards being in town, but the guy had been gone for a week now and Keith was avoiding him.

Since Keith had arrived in Altea, they were almost inseparable. First it had been so Lance could get his answers about what happened and actual mer lore; then it was to help each other get over their fears of water. Then it was to find answers. While they had put the search for answers on hold, hanging around each other was still the norm for them. In the early mornings, in a hidden cove, they’d surf together on magic waves. He’d join Keith on his lunch break if he was working at the Cafe. He’d show Keith around Altea and with the scale Keith had given him, they’d go swimming for hours. He'd play with the dolphins at the Marine Park. They’d become a part of each other's lives, so for Keith to just disappear on him was weird.

He hoped he hadn’t done anything. Seeing how long he had avoided water, Lance had a feeling Keith could go just as long avoiding him if he was pissed off.

Lance dug his board into the sand, grasping for the zipper of his wetsuit. He had to start heading back. He had just pulled his sleeves off and reached for his towel, when he spotted a familiar person helping carry drinks.

“Keith!”

Keith looked up, flashing those red purple eyes at him before he seemed to pale. He shoved the drink carrier at the customer and then darted back across the sand back to the Cafe.

Had Keith straight up just run away from him? Now Lance knew he was avoiding him. What the hell did he do?

The question bothered him for the rest of the night, and it was a miracle he was able to work on his paper at all. He didn’t even eat any of the stuff Hunk had made in his Fine Desserts class.

“It’s matcha tiramisu. You love tiramisu.” Hunk said.

“Not really hungry buddy, sorry.”

Hunk stared at him before putting the dish on Lance’s full bookcase and plopping down next to his friend.

“What’s wrong? You love my cooking, you never turn it down, even if you’re about to burst.”

Hunk had him there.

“It’s stupid.”

“Clearly not, if it’s bothering you so much.”

Lance fingered the scale around his neck. How did such a small thing bring them closer together when everything else seemed to be falling apart?

“I think I did something to make Keith mad at me, but I don’t know what.”

“Keith? Shiro’s brother? He slept over a few days ago, didn’t he?”

Lance was sure that Hunk still thought he had a crush on Keith, but when Thace had been around and Lance had offered to let Keith stay, Hunk had wasted no time introducing Keith to dorm cooking. If there was one thing Hunk loved, it was feeding people.

“Yeah. It’s just, I haven’t talked to him in the past few days, and I saw him at the beach when I was surfing earlier and he literally ran away from me. I must have done something wrong.”

Hunk shrugged. “Maybe you said something, or something happened? He seemed weird when you guys came back from the pool. Did something happen then?”

Other than Keith slamming his head into his own and causing him to almost drown again? No, Lance couldn’t really think of anything.

“Maybe he’s having a bad day. You said some unwanted family was here right; that’s why he stayed over?”

“Yeah, but as far as I know, he’s gone. It has to be something else.”

“I don’t know what to tell you Lance. Best you can do is just wait it out.”

He guessed so, but it still didn’t make him feel any better. He hoped whatever it was, that it was something he could easily fix.

* * *

How did one deal with the possibility of having a crush? Keith didn’t know, but he had a feeling avoiding them wasn’t helping. He had taken one look at Lance, half dressed in his wetsuit and ran. Why? He’d seen Lance like that before, it wasn’t a bad sight. He knew how to appreciate a good-looking top half, he was a mer for Poseidon’s sake.

“Kraken tentacles, Keith! Are you even listening to me?”

Keith looked up to see Shiro glaring at him. Oh yeah, Shiro was trying to teach him how to use the program to check people in. But with his crisis over what to do with the possibility of liking Lance, he hadn’t been paying attention to Shiro.

“Sorry.”

Shiro sighed. “Let’s try this again, shall we? Unless you want to tell me what’s on your mind?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Yeah, sure. Ok. So, when a guest comes in, get their name and...”

Shiro continued while once again Keith got lost in his thoughts. It wasn’t like him to have crushes. Most of the people he interacted with in the kingdom were his parents, the guards and servants and the council. Ok, so maybe there weren’t a lot of candidates for having a crush in his kingdom. He heard gossip from the servants though, they talked about how it felt like a current in their stomachs when they spoke to the person they liked. How being with them was the best feeling in the ocean. How they just couldn’t wait to finish work so they could meet them again. Did he feel like that with Lance?

Well, he liked hanging out with him. After Shiro had recommended they hold off on the answer finding, Lance had proposed showing Keith around, and he actually enjoyed it. Or even just the two of them swimming together; he still wanted to take Lance to the island and show him more of the history of mers. He found it endearing how Lance could go on for hours talking about the different theories on mers, even if he knew most of the history now. He knew Lance was determined, even when dealing with his own fear and he stood by Keith. Keith would gladly just sit with Lance and talk for hours, they had. A part of him was scared of what would happen when he eventually had to go back. If he found answers and was given the choice to go back to the Indian Ocean, would he? He’d miss Shiro and Adam and... Lance. He’d miss Lance a lot.

“Keith, for god’s sake.” Oops, he hadn’t been paying attention again. “Ok, talk, clearly something’s bothering you.”

“Nothing, it’s nothing.”

He could tell Shiro didn’t believe him. He stared at him like he wanted to bug him more about it, but decided to just let it go.

“Fine, whatever. You know, with how often you take days off, you spend more time helping Adam then me. Maybe, we should just have you work there during the week leading up instead.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shiro sighed. “Come on, let’s get lunch started. I’m actually surprised you aren’t spending lunch at the Cafe. Seems like you're always over there.”

“Oh well, I just realised I haven’t been spending much time with you and decided to stay with you today.” Keith said, trying to ignore the guilt that came rising back up when he thought of how he ran off from Lance.

“Not that I mind, really, but this doesn’t have anything to do with why you’re acting so weird does it?”

“I told you, I’m fine. I just wanted to hang out.”

Shiro didn’t look convinced, but he sighed and started heading to the kitchen when the door opened and Adam came in, a bag from the cafe in his hand.

“You’re home early? Did you close the Cafe?”

“Nope, I’m training my managers and they’re in charge while I’m here. They’ll call for any major disasters. It’s to help, so I can be on the beach when Lance and Hunk take the waves during the competition. I brought lunch, by the way.”

“You and Keith can get started. I’m going to reheat the soup I made yesterday and put out a sandwich bar for the guests.”

Happy to be away from the prying eyes, Keith followed Adam into the dining room and sat at their preferred table.

“You disappeared pretty quickly,” Adam said, pulling out their sandwiches.

“Oh, uh, just realised I haven’t spent much time with Shiro, plus, he has to train me.”

“I see.” It was clear to see Adam didn’t believe Keith either. “Lance was looking for you, said you ran off when you saw him?”

“Did he?”

“Yeah.” Adam said, placing Keith’s seafood bagel on the table. “So why don’t you tell me what’s really going on, or should I tell Shiro what Lance told me and let him drag it out of you?”

Shiro, even if he folded to others easily, was a master at haggling on things he wanted and it was clear Adam was a master at making decisions for a person.

“Ok fine. It’s just… how did you know you liked Shiro?”

Adam blinked at the prince. “Wait, do you like Lance?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never had a crush before. How do you know if you like someone?”

“Let me get this straight. You think you have a crush on Lance and that’s why you’ve been avoiding him?”

“I’m not avoiding him!” Keith defended, even though he knew he was.

“Keith, I’ve barely seen you say two words to him since that guard left.”

“Well...” Keith didn’t really have a response for that.

Adam sighed, opening the paper on his sandwich. “A bit of advice when you have feelings for someone, don’t run away or avoid them. Geez, you and Shiro are exactly the same.”

“What do you mean? Shiro left the ocean for you.”

“Yes, but Shiro didn’t even think of leaving it for me, he didn’t have much of a choice. I knew I had deep feelings for him, and I wanted to help so the time spent together at sea helped us become even more sure of our feelings for each other. Of course, once we arrived here, he started to get worried that I’d regret my decision and leave him, so the minute we docked he either avoided me or was constantly in the water. I had to go swimming after him and almost drowned to get him to talk. Sometimes, just talking with the person you like is better than avoiding them. Even if you're scared of hearing the answer, running away won’t be any better.”

If that didn’t speak to many aspects of his life.

“Ok, but how do I know?”

“It’s different for everyone, but I think there always comes a moment where we realise, ‘oh, wait. I do like you.’”

“That’s not helpful,” Keith dead panned.

Adam shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Have you ever asked your parents how they fell in love?”

Keith felt his face get hot and focused on his sandwich. Adam waited until he swallowed his bite before he answered. “They just said my mom found comfort in my dad, when she was going through something.”

“Not to point out the obvious, but Lance has been there for you while you are going through something.”

“Just...stop helping,” Keith complained. He still didn’t have an answer but he was starting to realise it might become a bit clearer if he actually stopped avoiding Lance.

* * *

“Are you sure?” Tex asked, watching his wife swim down the hall towards the safe room. He looked to make sure no one saw them. “You know the council won’t agree with this.”

“Princess Mika's mother, who should have been properly ruling, was on the surface for years before coming back down; and that was only to act as an example for Queen Sierra. If they’ve got a problem, they can choke on octopus tentacles for all I care.” Krolia said, swimming into the room and approaching Poseidon’s Trident.

As if sensing a mer nearby, its oppressive energy covered the room. Krolia took hold of and glared at the object that had no doubt driven away her son.

“That’s enough.” She ordered and the Trident quieted and once again went dormant. She put it back in its case and locked it, not giving it another glance as she closed the door behind her. “It’s done. Have the Blades stay duty here. I don’t want the council trying to figure out what happened until I tell them myself. I’m going to Altea to get Keith.”

  
  



	12. Apologies and a few more questions

Lance strolled through the mall, glad to have time away from his thesis. He could be practising for the competition, but Lance couldn’t pull the energy for it. He hadn’t seen Keith for what felt like ages, and he still had no clue what he’d done wrong.

“Do you want a smoothie?” Hunk asked. Usually, he’d be the one to remind Lance about his work but like Lance, school was dragging him down.

“Yeah. I’ll pay, I owe you for lunch.”

The two walked over to their favourite smoothie shop, Lance pulling his wallet out.

“Lance?” Lance hummed to let Hunk know he was listening. “Are you ok? You’ve been really quiet? Has Keith still not talked to you?”

“Not really. I haven’t had a shift at the Cafe, so I can’t even ask Adam. Plus, Keith doesn’t own a cell phone.” Well, he did, he just never used it.

“I know he’s practically always in the places where he knows people, but they should really fix that.” Hunk said. “Lance, I know I bugged you about it when I first met him, but I have to ask now… Do you like Keith?”

Lance sighed. “I think I do. I like being with him, and we helped each other with this fear of water we had. And him not talking to me...it kinda hurts worse than say, you not talking to me. At first, I thought it was just the looks, but I got to know him more and I couldn’t stop it.”

Hunk felt a bit guilty. Lance got crushes really easily, falling for people all the time. It caused him to be taken advantage of sometimes and Hunk never wanted that to happen to Lance. He’d been worried when he met Keith, but that time he spent the night with them made Hunk realise that Lance’s feelings might not be one sided. Keith was quiet and acted like everything around him was a new discovery, but seemed so wary of people around him. Except Lance. With Lance he seemed at ease, willing to come out of his shell. Now hearing Lance talk about Keith, he was starting to see just how serious this was.

“Well, maybe you should track him down. Like, bug him, until he gives you a reason for not talking to you. Maybe it's something simple and if not, well, he doesn’t deserve you. I won’t even bake him a cake if it comes to that.”

Lance laughed, nudging Hunk as they reached the counter. “Thanks Hunk. Hi, one large Tropical Blast and a medium Chocolate Banana please.”

“Though,” Hunk started as they waited at the pickup counter, “maybe you could do something to show him how you feel. His birthday is coming up, right? Maybe you can get him something.”

Lance tugged at the cord around his neck. “I don’t think bribery is really what I’m going for.”

“It’s not bribery. Rude.” Hunk’s eyes focused on the scale on the necklace around Lance’s neck. It had been there since Lance had his really bad wipeout. “Where did you get that necklace?”

“Um, Keith. He gave it to me.”

“Maybe you can give him something just as special.”

Special? What was more special than the thing that helped start their friendship?

“Maybe.”

* * *

Keith felt like a guppy who had an argument with his parents and now was hoping they wouldn’t be mad when he came to apologize. He wanted to apologize to Lance though. He didn’t deserve the cold shoulder just because Keith was really bad at figuring out his feelings. He still didn’t have an answer for how he felt. Adam had pointed out that if he kept this up, there was a chance he wouldn’t get one if Lance got annoyed with him. If he could control his anger when having to deal with snooty kingdom representatives, he could control his feelings for Lance for now.

He leaned against the entrance for the Marine Park workers, waiting for Lance to appear. He had memorized Lance’s work schedule for the Park, since the one for the Cafe was never the same. He watched Lance come down the path in his dolphin trainer uniform with a smoothie in hand. A smoothie he choked on, when he saw Keith.

Lance coughed, staring at him. “Keith? What are you doing here?” He asked, surprised.

Good, no anger yet. “I wanted to come and apologize for shutting you out. I...” _‘Realised I might have feelings for you and didn’t know how to deal with it.’_ “was worried that Thace was still around and would see me with you and try to use you to find me.”

“Oh! I thought I had done something.”

Great, now Keith felt worse.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I was just worried and didn’t want you to be.”

“Well, I called you the other day on the beach when you were helping a customer and when you saw me, you ran off.” Lance reminded him.

Gods below, he really dug a trench for himself.

“I panicked and I shouldn't have. I’m sorry. I should have just talked to you.”

“Well, I guess if it wasn’t what you meant to do. I forgive you.”

Keith felt relieved. “Good, um how busy are you?”

“Well I’ve got new tricks to teach them but I’m sure they’d enjoy a visit from their fav mer. Besides, I’m supposed to be using this time for research for my thesis, but I’ve worked here since I was a freshman and I think I’m about good on research.”

“Are you sure you're gonna graduate? I feel like whenever we hang out, you're always blowing off your school work.”

Lance gasped, insulted and Keith finally felt like things were back to normal.

“Excuse you, I do my work. Not to mention I’ve been practising for the Altean Surf Competition next week. After today, all my free time is gonna be spent at the beach, except the day before. Can’t overdo myself before the big event.”

“Maybe I should work at the Cafe that week after all. It would give me an excuse to make sure you don’t go drowning yourself.”

Lance glared at Keith, though the pout on his face wasn’t serious.

“For your information, I will dominate the competition, and not because my sponsors want me to. You’ll see, you’ll be praising my glory that day.” Lance said, exuding confidence, which Keith scoffed at.

“It’s my first time seeing a surf competition from the surface, try and impress me.”

This caused Lance to pout even more, making Keith laugh. He could do this, tease Lance as normal without worrying about his feelings.

“Lance! Lance, Lance, Lance!” Plaxium came bursting out the hidden door, almost hitting Keith if Lance hadn’t yanked him out the way. “Lance, you’re never going to believe this. A dusky dolphin was spotted on the cost.”

“But dusky dolphins aren’t native to our waters. They live in the South.”

Like near India. First Thace and now this?

“You’re not going to capture it are you?” Keith asked.

“No, but we do want to observe. It’s really far from home and if it’s hurt it would be better to bring it here, until it’s healthy. Me and the doc are heading out now; your friend want to join us?”

“Sure. We’ll meet you out front.” Lance dragged Keith back to the employee locker room and handed him his Marine Park coat, usually worn on the rainier days or dealing with animals who liked splashing back. “Is there a chance that this dolphin is from your kingdom?”

“I don’t know.” Keith answered, pulling on the coat. He was still in shorts but better safe than sorry. “The only one who’d be looking for me is Kosmo, but he knows to stay with the pod unless he's with a mer. He wouldn’t even know I’m here.”

“Let’s just hope this is a weird coincidence.” Lance said.

Plaxium and an older man named Jay were waiting in the car for Lance and Keith. It was a quick drive down to the Marina where they boarded a boat. Jay started the boat, Plaxium acting as his first mate of sorts.

“So why this boat and not a speed boat?” Keith asked.

“The equipment. It's kind of a souped-up fishing boat. We have a cooler for fish, power strips if we brought our laptops to do research out here, it's the best thing when looking for something specific.” Plaxium turned on a screen that showed a digital reading of the water below them. “This is an active screen that shows what’s around and below the boat in a 10-mile radius. It searches down as far as 50 feet. This is only a simple one.”

“Yeah, it’s great when we're checking on sea turtles, or if there’s a hurt animal we think needs help or you know, if luck ever passes our way, perhaps finding unheard of sea creatures.” Lance said with a pointed look at Keith.

Translation, a mer who’d talk to the dolphin if he got the chance.

“So, what’s the plan? Do we know where to find this dolphin?” Lance asked.

“A fishing boat was heading out when it saw it. Not surprising, this far from its natural habitat, it must be hungry. We’re going to go and see if it’s hurt and if not, see if we can lead it away from the fishing grounds and perhaps back to its pod. I would like to study it, but if this is just mother nature turning her child away too far, I don’t want to agitate it.” Jay said.

“The only dolphins we really have are locals.” Lance explained. “It's rare that we house one not from the area.” Keith nodded. If it was a member of the pod near his kingdom, Keith could try and find out what it was doing all the way here. He just really hoped it wasn’t Kosmo. With Thace being here not that long ago, it just seemed like too much of a coincidence.

They eventually slowed down when the screen started pinging. They stared at it until the identifiable shape of a dolphin showed up on the screen.

“We’ll get as close as we can to it. Which one of you wants to go in and see if it’s friendly?”

“I will.” Lance quickly volunteered.

Keith followed Lance to the corner of the boat where he pulled off his shoes and took his phone out from his pocket.

“If I can get it to come close enough, do you think you can talk to it?” Lance asked.

“Yeah, if it’s something important, I could probably distract them by making a dolphin sound. Any chance they won’t pay attention to the screen?”

“Good chance. Ok, let’s do this.”

Soon enough, they could see the fin of a dolphin poking through the waters. Lance dived in and swam near, the boat stopped nearby. Then Keith heard the dolphin squeak. He knew that squeak. That was Kosmo.

** “Kosmo!” **

** “Codling! You’re here!” **

He never thought he’d be so happy to hear that ridiculous name. When his mother first introduced him to Kosmo’s pod, he’d been more concerned with eating the snacks they brought then meeting the dolphins. Kosmo, a calf himself, had tried stealing the cod fish from Keith only for them to start arguing. After that Kosmo called him codling, refusing to call him by his name or by ‘his highness’.

**“There’s a human coming. What do I do?”** Kosmo asked.

** “You can trust him. Look around his neck, that’s my scale. Come with him nearby and we can talk.” **

“Look at that, it’s approaching Lance.” Jay said, as Kosmo swam to Lance, poking him in the chest and swimming around him. “It looks like it’s following Lance.”

While Jay and Plaxium were occupied with the scene in the water, Keith went to the back of the boat and let out a squeak. Like startled pufferfish, the two looked up and over to Keith.

“Was that another one?” Plaxium asked.

“I think I see it. Come look.”

It was slightly concerning just how easy it was to trick them, but Keith decided not to focus on that as he went back to Lance and Kosmo. Seeing the dolphin staring up at him made him realise just how much he’d missed his friend.

** “Codling, you disappeared! Everyone’s been looking for you. The King and Queen are worried sick. Oh, the Queen, I got separated. **

** “Separated Kosmo, what are you talking about? How did you even get here?” **

** “The Queen-” **

Whatever Kosmo was going to say was cut off by Plaxium loudly announcing, “I don’t see anything.”

** “Kosmo, listen to me. You need to go back to the kingdom. These guys might not take you but I refuse to let anyone else get the chance.” **

** “But what about you?” **

** “Kosmo, please just go! I promise, I’ll come back, just go.” **

He could tell Kosmo was apprehensive but he let out a squeak anyway. **“Be safe codling.”**

Jay and Plaxium joined him again as Kosmo dived back into the water and swam away.

“What’s going on?” Jay asked.

“He wasn’t hurt or anything. I think he was migrating and got lost. He sounded like he was happy. Maybe one of his pod mates was nearby. Do you want to try tagging him?” Lance called.

Jay shook his head. “No. While it would be nice to know why he’s here, he didn’t seem to be in much distress. I guess we can just chalk this one up to mother nature giving us a small gift. If he’s still around the coast tomorrow though, we’ll see if we can tag him.”

So Kosmo was safe, but what was he doing here? And why did he mention the Queen?

* * *

“That is a lot.” Shiro said as he opened the door to the underground mer area. “A normal mer can travel from the Indian Ocean to Altea in what, a day and a half with superswim?”

“Super what now?” Lance asked, following as they entered the hidden room and went down the stairs.

“Mer tails have the ability to swim extremely fast. We can leisurely swim at the speed of a fish but when we had so many predators, it was easier to swim away, quicker. I guess you could compare it to a speed boat.” Keith explained as he dropped down on the couch. “Speaking of predators, have you seen any mer pods yet?”

Shiro shook his head. “I have, but none had answers about the Panthalassa. They know they were our enemies, and that the prophecy about the twins was true. Sara’s Panthalassa lover was one of them, they were sure of it.”

“What about the other one? You said the prophecy was about twins, right? Do you think Kaito Domoto was the other one?” Lance asked.

“And if he is, is Luchia, his wife and from what we can guess the writer of that book, related to mermaids in some way?” Adam added on.

“The Pearl Royal of the North Pacific Ocean, where it said Luchia mainly lived, is not seen often.” Keith remembered.

“Is she hiding something?” Lance questioned.

“No, apparently she goes to the surface a lot or visits the North and South Atlantic Ocean Kingdoms. Her sister usually takes over if that happens. It’s probably nothing. We don't have many visitors from other kingdoms.”

“Putting that question aside, let’s talk about Kosmo. You said he mentioned the Queen, and that he got separated. He wouldn’t have gotten separated from her because they were coming here, would he?” Shiro asked.

Keith shook his head. “There’s no way the council would allow her to leave. Why do you think Thace was the one looking for me? Though, Kosmo did say they were worried about me.”

Shiro could tell this was getting to Keith. He knew how close to his parents he was. Leaving with no explanation and having no answers wasn’t helping.

“We’ll find answers Keith, I promise. Then you’ll be able to go home.”

“Yeah. I’m sure you miss it a lot.” Adam said.

“I do.” Keith did miss home. While being Prince was a lot at times, he did miss swimming with Kosmo, or fighting with the Blades or even just relaxing in his parents’ room while they tried to work on paperwork. But even though he missed it, he liked being on the surface. While learning about all the new things was sometimes overwhelming, he enjoyed it. He enjoyed seeing Shiro whenever he wanted; he liked eating Adam’s famous bagels; he liked watching Lance surf or just hanging out with him. He was starting to get to know Pidge, the other worker at the Inn. He felt like Altea could be his home. What would he do when he eventually had to leave? Would it be easy?

While Shiro and Keith talked, Lance got Adam’s attention.

“Has Shiro given you a scale?”

“What, you mean like Keith did? No, not really. I mean, I’ve learned how to breathe, but I usually stay on dry land when Shiro goes swimming unless we go together. Why?”

“Well, I wanted to get him something for his birthday. Hunk suggested since Keith gave me the scale, I do something like that for him, but I don’t know what.”

Adam swallowed a comment about wanting it to be special, for his special person. He didn’t get much of a reaction from Keith when he’d tried that earlier and the last thing, he wanted was to cause a mess. Plus, with hearing about the possibility of Keith leaving, it was stirring up other feelings. He and Shiro did want kids, though how to raise one, when one of the parents pretty much turned into a fish would be complicated. They’d joked that Keith would be their kid when he first arrived, but Keith felt like their kid. Embarrassing him was one of Adam’s favourite things and teaching Keith about the surface world was something he kinda enjoyed. Keith leaving would be hard, but Adam wondered if it would be harder for Lance.

“Well Shiro gave me a bracelet he made me, but that’s because he knows how to make jewellery. Our rings don’t count either because a mer pod gave them to us. Look, just think of something that the two of you share and go from there. I’m sure whatever you give him, Keith will love.”

  
  



	13. Unexpected arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are 3 more chapters of this. I can't believe that.

“How does he get all the attention?” Griffin scowled.

Keith rolled his eyes. It was the week of the big competition and Lance had been asked by a surfing magazine and website to do an interview. With part of Lance’s thesis due the same week, he’d asked if it would be ok if they did the interview on campus. Which was why they were doing an interview out on the quad. After, Lance was planning on practising and Keith had finally gotten away from the Inn. Even though he hadn’t been paying attention to Shiro’s training, when he saw how many people were waiting in the lobby, he decided he better learn on the job. He never wanted to do that again. At least if he was at the Cafe, he could send another server if he was stuck dealing with an annoying customer.

The sight of the cameras had brought a lot of people over to watch and attempt to get behind Lance to be in the shot, but the floating camera was good at changing angles to keep Lance as the focus. Griffin had come over to complain loudly and seemed to be oblivious of all the people glaring at him.

“So, is there anyone you're worried about taking your title?” The interviewer asked Lance.

“Um, my roommate Hunk probably. We’ve been surfing together for as long as I can remember, plus we have this bet on who wins.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, if he wins, he gets my mom’s secret dulce de leche cake recipe, which mind you, I don’t even know.”

“That will not stop me Lance!” Keith jumped as Hunk suddenly appeared next to him. “I will get that recipe; your mother will not get away from me.”

Lance stuck his tongue out. “Not when I win. I hope your wallet is ready to buy me that mermaid wind chime.”

“I still see you’re still a mermaid fanatic. Any new you’ve learned?”

Lance glanced over at Keith. “Some say that mers can mimic the sound of dolphins.”

“Interesting. Think every mer can do it?”

“It’s probably like learning a language, some might try and end up insulting your mother.”

Keith stifled his laughter, wondering what Shiro would do when he saw the interview and learned what Keith had told Lance about his really bad attempts of speaking dolphin.

“So he wins a few competitions, and he gets all the attention. What a poser.” Griffin scoffed.

“Shh!” The producer said, “keep quiet back there or we’ll ask you to leave!”

“Excuse me?”

“Put a pufferfish in it.” Keith snapped, getting annoyed. He was actually starting to miss the snooty, Pearl Royals and their attendants. At least they were easier to shut up.

Finally getting the message, Griffin stormed off.

“For those new surfers coming out hoping this competition will be their starting point, what would you like to say to them?”

“I would wish them luck. This was my first competition, and I was terrified but the one thing to remember is to give it your all. Just show the judges your best and who knows? You may surprise yourself.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Thank you.

“Keith,” Hunk said, pulling Keith’s attention away and then shoving a fork in his face, “Try this.”

“What is it?”

“Orange Cream cake.”

The cake was a bit orange. Since finding out Keith’s birthday was after the competition, Hunk was trying to figure out Keith’s preferred cake flavour. While the attempts were nice, most of them were too sweet for his tastes.

Keith ate it, chewing slowly as the tart and sweet flavour of orange soaked in his mouth.

“It’s not bad, just...”

“Not your style?” Keith shook his head. “Ok, that’s fine. This is gonna be really hard.”

“Sorry.” Keith said, swallowing the cake just as Lance came to them. “Ready?”

“Yeah. If we catch the shuttle now, we can get drinks at the Cafe, assuming you don’t get dragged into working.” Lance said, grabbing the board that had been leaning on the tree nearby.

“Remind me to never work at the Inn, when it’s a busy week.”

Never again.

* * *

Adam gently wrapped the necklace a customer had just purchased. During times when there was an influx of tourists or visitors, Shiro would always have a small stand of any jewellery he’d made, for sale. He kept telling Shiro he should open an online store, though considering how long it took him to learn a phone and work the computer at the Inn, maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

“Here you go. Have a nice day and come again.”

“Thank you.”

Adam took a ticket from a waiter and passed it to the kitchen, picking up a ready order.

“Poseidon's Wave in the window!” He called, passing it to the waitress who came to pick it up.

The Cafe was usually packed on a good day, but with the Altean Surf Competition at the end of the week, the Cafe seemed more crowded than usual. Thankfully there was no line yet; that’s when hot and hungry customers threw a fit. He watched a woman come in, the simple dress not seeming to fit her aura.

“Can I get you a table?” Adam asked her.

“Oh, I’m actually looking if that’s ok. It’s my first time here.”

“Of course.” Adam said, taking the woman in. Her black hair seemed to have shades of purple in the sun and her resting face made her gold eyes look like they were glaring at anyone unfortunate enough to meet her gaze. It was almost like Keith’s resting grumpy face. “Are you here for the competition or just visiting?”

“Visiting. I lived in India most of my life.” She said, her eyes resting on the stand with the jewellery.

“Really, I’m from India. Well, kinda. My mom is from there and I would go back often when I was young. My husband grew up there as well.”

“Really? Was he the one who made these? The style reminds me of a family I know,” she asked, pointing them out.

“Yes actually, he did. You should buy now if you see something you like. They’ve been going fast.”

“Oh, it is tempting, but I already have a necklace I love.” She said, pulling out an orange shell necklace. For some reason, it looked familiar.

“Adam!” Adam turned from the woman to see Lance hopping behind the bar with him.

“Lance, you know the rules. If you’re not working, you can’t come behind the bar.”

“Me and Keith wanted drinks and he didn’t want to risk you putting him to work.”

He smirked at that statement. “I told him to wake up and come with me. It only got busy when he would have been getting off shift to go hang out with you anyway.”

“Best not to risk it. Can we please get our regulars? You can take it out of my pay check.”

“Fine, now out from behind the bar, go.” He shooed Lance away.

“That’s a nice necklace. Did you get it from here?” The woman asked Lance as he moved to the other side of the bar.

“This?” Lance fingered the red orange scale Keith had given him. “No, a really good friend gave this to me.”

“Lance, I can get a waiter to bring it to you. I’m sure you want to get some practise in.” Adam offered.

“Thank you!” Lance yelled before disappearing, no doubt to go run to the first wave he saw.

“He seems like a bundle of energy.”

“That’s Lance. He’s the hopeful for the surfing competition, if you can believe it. I need to make their smoothies, but let me know if you need anything.”

It wasn’t until he was pouring the finished drinks into their cups that he remembered. The shape of the woman’s necklace, the shell looked like the one on Luchia’s necklace. Which both Keith and Shiro said was the necklace of a Pearl Royal. He looked around the restaurant.

The woman was gone.

* * *

“I’m sure it was just a coincidence.” Shiro pointed out. There was a full moon that night and they were eating dinner early.

“I guess. I’m probably being paranoid. I just don’t want Keith being dragged back if he’s not ready.”

Shiro stared at his husband. “Adam, if Keith were to leave, be it because he’s dragged back or he leaves of his own choice, how would you feel?”

“I’d miss him, obviously. I mean, wouldn’t you?”

“I would, but I think we can both agree it would be more than just missing a guy who’s lived with us for a month. Keith is practically my brother and he was one of the biggest things I missed about the Indian Ocean Kingdom. I guess what I want to know is, is it just us who’d feel this way? Would he miss us the same?”

“I think so. God, Shiro what are we going to do when he leaves? I mean we had that Thace guy and Keith’s pet dolphin all appear, not to mention, his mom, the Queen, probably being here. We can’t do anything and Keith doesn’t want to leave without answers but what if he doesn’t get that choice?”

“Hey,” Shiro said, putting his hand on Adam’s, “It’s terrifying I know. I don’t want him to go either. The best we can do right now is support him, and if we need to spray any other mers to keep him safe, we will. It’s like I said before, this is my territory, not theirs.”

“They should fear us and our drink hoses.” Adam joked.

“A mers worst enemy.” Shiro said, leaning in and pressing a kiss to Adam’s lips. “It’ll be ok, I promise.”

“I’m here! Sorry I’m late.” Keith ran into the Cafe, which had finally calmed down. “Lance and I were talking and he almost missed the shuttle.”

“Wouldn’t want your boyfriend to be in a lurch.” Shiro teased.

“Shut up!” Keith snapped, face red.

“So,” Adam dropped in, hoping to stop the fight before it began, “What should we do for your birthday? What do you usually do?”

“A huge party I feel really uncomfortable in.” Keith said, stealing half of Shiro’s sandwich.

“So, no large party then.”

“Hunk’s been trying to figure out my cake flavour. No success so far, but seeing how he keeps promising to win to get some recipe from Lance, I wouldn’t put it past him to try every flavour possible.”

“Maybe we could just do a small thing at the Inn. We could block off the outside area for you guys.” Adam suggested.

“Most guests will be spending their time at the beach or leaving, if the past competitions are anything to go by. How about it?” Shiro asked.

“Sure. Maybe when I’ve finally made some other friends, we can have more people next time.” Keith said, missing the look Adam and Shiro shared.

“Eat quick, Keith, we should head out soon.” Shiro said, like he was trying to herd a young calf.

“You’re not coming with us?” Keith asked Adam.

“No, it's too busy to leave Pidge with no help at the Inn. When the shift is over, we’ll close up here. Maybe you’ll actually listen to me when I tell you to come with me tomorrow.” Keith, obviously spending too much time with Lance, stuck his tongue out at Adam before taking a last bite and dragging Shiro away.

The Cafe closed not long after, and after shooing Pidge back home, Adam returned to the Inn where he curled up at the front desk, with a book about the Panthalassa in hand. The mer pods didn’t have much information, but maybe there was something they were missing from past readings. It was interesting to read about. Old lore wasn’t something Shiro would talk about much, no doubt because of memories from living in the Indian Ocean. It was still strange to think that if a spirit of the ocean hadn’t decided to sacrifice one group for the safety of the whole kingdom, he never would have met Shiro. He hoped Sara had found her Panthalassa lover worth it. She deserved to find love in the end.

The door to the Inn opened.

“Welcome to – oh, it’s you.”

The woman from before stood in the doorway. She didn’t have any bags with her as she walked in, taking in the sea themed decorations.

“You kinda disappeared at the Cafe. Was everything all right?” Adam asked, as she got closer to the desk.

“Yes, just a bit crowded for my taste. You said there’s a competition happening?”

“Surfing competition, yeah. Oh, if you decided you wanted to get a piece of jewellery after all, you can buy them here also.” He kinda wanted to know what she was doing here, but he had manners and she wasn’t doing anything yet to cause him concern.

“Does your husband do commissions…. I was hoping if he could, possibly create a circlet for me?”

“Uh, well not right now. During busy times, he only really sells easy to make stuff, but if you're still around after next week, sure. Are you going to be staying here?”

“I’m staying with my family. I just heard that the creator of the jewellery lived here.”

Not a hugely surprising thing. Those who knew of Adam and/or Shiro usually found out they were married to each other, and about the businesses they owned. Though, tourists never really found that out unless they were the type to ask thousand questions.

“Well, he’s already asleep. I can pass it on to him in the morning.”

“Do you have a piece of paper? The design has been floating in my head and I don’t want to forget it. I can put my name on there as well.”

So far, there was nothing that she was doing that screamed danger. He handed her a piece of paper from the printer and a pencil, wondering if it would be rude to go back to reading.

“What are you reading about?” she asked, her eyes trained on the paper.

“Oh, just about these old sea lore stories. Apparently, there were these creatures called the Panthalassa.” Was it his imagination or did she flinch? “Not a whole lot on them, unfortunately. I’m a bit curious.”

“Stories come from somewhere. Perhaps the people who shared the stories got scared and started hiding facts. It’s amazing what can happen with a bit of fear.”

“Yeah.”

“Here you go. I’ll be back tomorrow.” Just as sudden as she appeared, the woman was gone.

Adam looked at the picture as he moved to put it near the check in computer so Shiro would see it when he worked the next day, but he stopped. The circlet was very simple, a lot of curved wrappings. It was the symbol in the centre that looked familiar. Adam knew that symbol. Putting up a sign to hit the call button if needed, Adam dashed into their bedroom, going to Shiro’s side of the bed. Hidden in the bedside table was a jewellery drawer.

When they had been seeing each other, Adam had asked about the scars on Shiro’s arm, which was how he found out about him being a jeweller. So, when Shiro was banished and they made their trip back to Altea, seeing the amount of jewellery Shiro had brought with him wasn’t surprising. It was certainly a talking piece.

“Oh no!” Shiro had said, the items spread out on the bed, Adam trying to decide which one he liked the best and could possibly ask him for. “I forgot to leave this one.”

“Leave what?”

“This.” He’d been handed a necklace with a symbol pressed into it. “The King had commissioned it for the Queen. He said it wasn't a rush, so I forgot I had it.”

“Does it mean something?” Adam asked.

“Well, the Queen’s mark is the necklace of a Pearl Royal, that’s the King’s mark. Apparently in the old language, it means either power or knowledge.”

“Huh. And I thought writing German was hard. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.”

“I doubt humans would. It’s a dead language, older than the gods we worship.

Then how did a language older than the gods appear on a drawing of the mysterious woman? Who was she?

“This was too much of a coincidence. Something isn’t adding up. That woman couldn’t be...could she?”

* * *

Krolia swam towards the moon pool, going over what happened in her head. She’d met the human Shiro left with, for the first time. She’d been worried that things didn’t work out between them and Shiro had been left alone, but it was clear when he talked about Shiro, that he truly loved him. He practically boasted about Shiro’s jewellery.

But he was reading about Panthalassa. No doubt Keith was looking for answers. She wondered if that other human knew, the one with Keith’s scale around his neck. He had a similar look to Shiro’s human when he said someone gave it to him. She hoped that Keith trusted that human like Shiro trusted his.

She was sure if Shiro’s human truly knew him, then he’d recognise the symbol. Tex never did receive the necklace from Shiro’s parents. Soon, things would be made clear. Soon, Keith would get his answers.


	14. Finding out the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 more chapters left! I'm still really surprised it's almost over. Hey, at least I won't be late for uploads then.

“Are you ok?” Lance asked, staring at Adam, who’s gaze was focused on his hand as he did henna.

It was a bit weird. Adam only offered to do it when Diwali came around, which wasn’t for another month; and if he did do it, Lance would have to wait ages for it to dry, which meant no surfing. Though, that last part worked out. Hunk was dragging him to go shopping to get cake stuff, and Lance still wanted to go get Keith a present.

“I’m fine.” Adam said, adding more humps to the fin shaped design on his hand.

“It’s just, you don’t really do this unless it's for big events and I don’t think a local surf competition counts as a big event.”

“I just felt like it. Besides, Keith can’t have them done underwater, so I thought I’d at least practise.”

Lance stared at his boss, his friend, and honestly the guy was practically his brother. Adam babysat him on the odd times no one in his family could and was his biggest supporter in surfing when his family couldn’t be there. He might not have been able to tell that Adam’s husband was a mer the whole time he knew them, but he did know Adam was acting strangely. Why though, Lance wasn’t totally sure.

“Is everything ok with Shiro?”

“Of course, everything’s fine.” Now Adam looked confused at the question.

“Is Keith?” He almost didn’t see the twitch, almost. “Does you being weird have anything to do with Keith?”

“No. Look, Lance it’s nothing. I’m all done.”

It looked amazing; the fin surrounded by Lance’s favourite henna designs. It was also gonna be hell to make sure it didn’t smudge. It still didn’t excuse the fact that Adam was hiding something.

“Fine, keep your secrets. I gotta go. My usual surf time is being replaced with late night surfing because of Hunk.”

“Isn’t that incredibly dangerous?”

“Yes, but we do it anyway. Plus, I have extra protection.” Lance said, pulling at the scale around his neck. “That and other surfers who are joining in promised spotlights.”

“And I’m assuming you're plugging it in here, because there’s no other place that runs electricity around here.” Adam said, with a deadpan voice.

“Thanks Adam, bye! Tell Keith I said hi.” Lance said, getting up from his corner seat at the bar and leaving.

“Don’t smudge it!” Adam warned, as Lance left.

Ok, so yes, he might have lied when Lance kept bugging him about what was wrong, but what was he supposed to say?

‘Oh, nothing much. Just that Keith’s mom came to the Inn last night, basically saying she knows he’s here and Shiro plans on talking to her before we let Keith know. But she could very well attack Shiro and just take Keith, and there’s nothing I can do because I’m a human and the fact that she saw Keith’s scale around your neck means she might come after you too. But it’s nothing major to worry over.’

Yeah, that would go over well. Adam was so sure the Queen would come back to the Inn, but Shiro seemed to know she’d be at the Cafe. He guessed that during Shiro’s morning swim he got a fish or something to go find her; since they were sure there was no way she stayed on land. He wasn’t sure who he was more worried for, Keith or Shiro. Maybe Shiro, since she banished him from her kingdom.

“You seem to be in deep thought.”

Adam jolted, seeing the Queen appear in front of him. She was still in the same dress and she still exuded power and control.

“Hi.”

“Hello. I take it Takashi got my note.”

Yeah, note. Drawing that was practically a calling card.

“Krolia.” Like a knight swooping in, Shiro appeared behind the Queen, bowing his head as she turned to him. “Perhaps it would be best if we talked away from here.”

“And Keith?”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but he came to me fearing for his life. You’ll forgive me if I keep that bit of information to myself, for right now.”

Translation, you’re on my turf. I make the rules.

“Very well. Shall we?”

“After you.” Shiro gave his husband a look that he hoped was calming, but Adam still couldn’t help but feel worried. It was one thing to send a guard to get a prince, but for the Queen to come herself? Adam really hoped this wouldn’t end with Keith being ripped away from them.

* * *

Shiro led the Queen down to a hidden cove. Tide pools dotted the area, reminding Shiro that he could fight the Queen, if need be. He didn’t want to. While his parents interacted with the Queen, he was closer to Keith but he still felt cared for the Queen. She stood out amongst her subjects with her purple tail. As far as anyone knew, she grew up amongst people from the Indian Ocean Kingdom and was part of the groups that returned to the kingdom when it was rebuilt. She had been close to the last Queen and had been chosen by Aqua Regina herself. He knew that sending him away wasn’t what she had wanted to do, but the council had her hands tied. If, however, Keith was going to get in trouble for something they didn’t even fully know was his fault, Shiro could easily forget the kindness she had shown him.

“You seem to be doing well. It’s clear to see that your human loves you very much.” Krolia said.

“Then you should know he’d be willing to defend the people he cares about. I’m sure Thace told you that.”

“Sprayed in the face by water. One of my best warriors and he gets stunned by a simple blast of water. She shook her head smiling lightly, “he’s got guts. I'll give him that.”

Shiro smiled. 

“While it is very nice to see you again, your majesty, I know we’re not here to discuss my taste in good men.”

“No. We’re here to discuss Keith. When he disappeared, Poseidon’s Trident had been activated.”

“Are you accusing him of something?” Shiro asked, narrowing his eyes.

“No, because I know he did it. A normal mer can’t activate it, they’d have their power drained. Only a Panthalassa can do that.”

“Well last time I checked, according to our history, Queen Sara’s last lover was the last Panthalassa and he died. So, unless you're suggesting Keith found one, and brought him to the kingdom-” Shiro started but was interrupted by the Queen.

“He didn’t bring one, he is one. Half, anyway.”

Shiro felt confused. Keith, half Panthalassa? That was impossible. “How would you know that?”

“Well, seeing how I’m the half that caused this problem, I think I’d know.”

Half that caused…? “Wait, you’re a Panthalassa? But, that’s not possible.”

“I would appreciate it if you’d take me to Keith, I won't hurt him. He deserves to hear this story.”

* * *

“It's gorgeous, it’s gonna look amazing hanging in the window of our dorm. When the light hits it just right, it will remind you what a great surfer I am.”

Hunk rolled his eyes. They were at the tourist centre, looking for gift ideas for Keith, when Lance spotted the wind chime he’d been looking at and started poking at Hunk, reminding him of their bet.

“You need to win first. Besides, shouldn’t you be bugging your mom for the recipe?”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“I try. Now, speaking of gifts, any ideas what you're gonna get Keith?”

God, that was a question. “I don’t know. I mean, I want it to be important.”

“Hang on,” Hunk said, “the big question is, have you figured out how you feel about him?”

Had he? Yes, he did. Hanging out with Keith, being around him, those stupid red purple eyes that drew him in, even from the first time they met.

“Yeah. I do. I really like him.”

“Well alright. So, presents. What does he like?”

“Uh, the sea. Dolphins. He likes watching surfing, though he can’t surf and isn’t the best swimmer. His favourite present is the jewel encrusted dagger his parents gave him. He likes lazing around in the sun, he’s like a cat I swear. He refuses to admit his hair is a mullet so he’s constantly pulling it up so I can’t tease him. He likes red. He also really likes the stars. And – what?” Lance asked, seeing Hunk stare at him, a smirk on his face.

“Nothing, just wondering how you ever _wondered if_ you liked him.” Hunk teased, his smirk growing as Lance got red.

“Shut up!”

Lance stormed away, Hunk following him as he laughed. The tourist centre was next to an outdoor market and Lance thought that some of the cooler items would be for sale there. A lot of artists and creators sold their art, while food trucks and tents sold food. It was the cheapest way to truly enjoy the local Altean cuisine.

While they walked past the stalls, Lance moved to scratch his hand but stopped himself.

“I love henna, but god I hate having to wait. My hand is itchy.”

Hunk took Lance’s wrist to look at the design. “I mean, I’m not opposed to it. It’s just Adam doesn’t do henna on us unless it’s for Diwali. How come he offered?”

“I don’t know. I came in for lunch and asked about Keith, since he wasn’t there. Said he was helping Shiro and then said he got a delivery of new dyes and asked if I wanted one. I barely said yes before he started. I think something’s bothering him, but he won’t say what.”

“You don’t think something happened with Keith, do you?”

With Thace and Keith’s dolphin appearing within a week of each other? Lance didn’t even want to think about it. “I hope not.”

“It would be a shame if I couldn’t figure out his cake flavour and he had to go back home. OH! Of course, I haven’t been successful,” Hunk interrupted himself, “I’ve thought about him not being a cake guy, but he said he didn’t really have a lot of sweets growing up. Maybe something subtle? Like a cheesecake? Oh, that’s perfect!”

“Cheesecakes can be sweet, can’t they?” Lance asked, gaze going back to the stalls.

“Yeah, but with the right flavours it won’t seem like it. Hmm, I could make my famous dark chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. Is he allergic to fruit, Keith-lopaedia?”

“Shut up and his favourite fruits are blueberries. He can’t stand grapefruits and the taste of mango. Adam nearly just about died when Keith spat his first mango out. Does blueberry and dark chocolate even go together? Those blueberries infused dark chocolate things, from the fancy brand, they weren’t that great.”

Hunk shook his head, the chef in him crying at the thought of the thing Lance was referring to. “That’s because they aren’t. So, I’ll stick with dark chocolate and raspberries. But maybe I should do something different? He didn’t like the overly sweet stuff I made him.”

“Or you could make him a cheesecake with different flavour sections.” Lance airily threw out.

“You just want to eat all of them.” Hunk said, not fooled for a second.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It’s not. Ok, so dark chocolate, maybe a lemon one? They both have a bitter taste to them, so I’d have to find a sweet side that would balance it out. Maybe he’d appreciate a plain cheesecake? What would be a sweet flavour, something that’ll stand out?” Hunk asked. When he didn’t get an answer, he turned to see that Lance wasn’t even next to him anymore. He was up at a table, looking at necklaces hanging off a large jewellery tree. His gaze was set on a red purple gem dangling from a necklace. “Lance?”

“This is gonna sound so cheesy, but I kinda met Keith before we got formally introduced; and when we met again, I knew it was him from his eyes.”

“Yes, it is cheesy, but I love you for it.” Hunk looked at the different small charms laying out on the table, noticing that some necklaces had several charms on the same chain. “How does this work?”

“Oh, well,” the seller said, hearing Hunk and realising she had customers, “You can choose up to four charms per chain. They’re lightweight but very durable, and they are small so they don’t look tacky. A charm bracelet in necklace form, if you will.”

“Oh, perfect for people who don’t wear bracelets. Kinda like how you ordered a class bracelet instead of a ring.” Lance said, poking at Hunk, who looked at his fingers.

“They’re so inconvenient. You take them off and put it down and two seconds later, it’s missing in your house, never to be seen again.”

“Hunk, I told you, I forgive you for losing your BF ring.”

“Boyfriends?” the seller asked, perking up at the thought of a sale.

“What? Oh no, not him. BF, as in best friend. He lost the ring in the 6th grade and still refuses to wear them now. I am, however, interested in getting a necklace with this stone?”

“Oh, that’s a rhodonite garnet. It’s a bit more purple that usual, but still a very good colour.”

“It’s perfect. Can I switch the other charms on this though?” Lance asked, carefully taking it off the tree and handing it to the woman, who held a pair of jewellery pliers in her hand.

“Sure. Which ones tickle your fancy?”

Lance took in the array of charms. He wanted the necklace to mean something. Whether or not they ended up going out, he and Keith were connected. He wanted to reflect that in the necklace.

“Um, the surfboard, the mermaid tail and...the crown.”

“The crown?” Hunk asked, as the seller picked up the surfboard charm that was the same colour as Lance’s board, a wooden mermaid tail and a Tangled Rapunzel style crown.

“He’s an only child and was kinda treated like a prince.”

“Huh, treated like a prince, but acts like a saint. Unless it’s to Griffin, but that’s understandable. Think he’ll like it?”

“Yeah. I think it’s perfect.”

* * *

“Alright, lunch is warming in the oven. Send them to the Cafe for a discounted lunch if they don’t like the menu, but only today. And Pidge, for the love of Poseidon, please don’t overload the internet again.” Shiro instructed the young woman.

“If you got better WiFi, that wouldn’t have happened,” she defended. “Though, if you tell me who was worth blocking off access to the backyard, I’ll behave.”

“Not on your pay check.

“You know, the last time something like this happened, my brother was creating a new identity for you. Don’t think I don’t know about the one for mullet boy. I know exactly why you need new identities. That woman is a member of a royal family, of a country that’s too small for a map and she here to take him back.”

“Pidge. Altea is too small to be on a map.” Pidge opened her mouth, as if to say something but stopped. Shiro was right. “Stop playing video games till 4 in the morning, and watch the desk. I have my phone, text me if it’s an emergency. And that doesn’t mean you can’t handle not knowing what’s going on.”

“I have no fun here.” Pidge complained.

Shiro rolled his eyes at the girl and headed to the backyard. Keith was still waiting by the door, staring out to where his mother was sitting.

“I can’t believe she’s here. What if she’s here to punish me?” Keith asked.

“She doesn’t know about the sprinkler system. I can catch her off guard if you need to make for the dock.”

“Are you telling me to take the risk of being seen?” Keith asked. Shiro was usually constantly reminding him to be careful.

“Well Pidge thinks your mom is the queen of a country too small to be on the map, so she’s already got half of it. Look, between you, me and the drink in Adam’s hand, we can take her by surprise and run if need be. But...” Shiro thought back to what Krolia had hinted to, “trust me when I say I don’t think you’re in trouble, or that she’s gonna punish you. If she is, then she has to accept her own guilty plea, as well.” Keith raised an eyebrow. “It’ll make sense. Come on.”

Shiro led Keith outside. The minute Krolia saw her son, she ran over and swept him up into her arms, Keith holding on just as tightly. He might have been terrified about what would happen, but he missed his mother like crazy.

“Oh, my little hatchling. I was so worried. I’m happy you’re ok. I’m so sorry I yelled at you that night.” Krolia said into Keith’s hair.

“I’m sorry I disobeyed the rules. Mom, that night, with the Trident...”

Krolia pulled away, taking Keith’s face into her hands, looking over her son. Gods below, it felt like her heart was finally full again. All she wanted to do was just hold him and then take him back home, but he deserved the truth.

“I know. Keith, I have something to tell you.”

“I’m not banished, am I?”

“No hatchling. If you were banished because of what happened, I should have been banished the minute I swam into the kingdom. Come, sit. Let me explain.” She sat Keith down on the plush lounge Keith would usually lay on if he wasn’t working at the inn. Adam and Shiro sat at the umbrella covered table, just far enough to give them space but so they could still hear too. “I guess I should start from the beginning. As I’m sure you can guess by now, I’m not originally from the Indian Ocean Kingdom.”

Keith nodded. “Your tail is purple. Only those from the Antarctic Ocean Kingdom have purple tails.”

“Right. But I’m not from the Antarctic Ocean either. I’m from the darkest part of the ocean.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how to say this, so I just will be blunt. Keith, I’m Panthalassa.”

Keith stared at his mother. He couldn’t comprehend what she said, because it didn’t make sense.

“What?”

“You know why Aqua Regina had to destroy the Panthalassa Clan, right?”

Stunned by the sudden question, the words tumbled from his mouth like he was reciting a history lesson. “They were going to take control of the entire ocean, and couldn’t be stopped. Their weapons had already killed so many mers.”

“And the prophecy?”

“The one about the twins? No one really knows if it’s true.”

“It is. How do you think Queen Sara’s last lover existed?” She explained, reminding him of when he was a guppy and asked a thousand questions with no stopping. “Back when they were just babies, completely unassuming of the power they held, the Panthalassa leader ordered that we would take control of the ocean. I was young and even through the hold the leader held on me, I knew what was going on wasn’t right. We had defeated a group as powerful as the mers. We were growing drunk on the power. If we weren’t stopped, everything would be destroyed. It took a lot of willpower and strength to break free of the leader’s control but I went to the temple of Aqua Regina and begged her to help. I told her what they planned and how they were going to use the twins’ power to destroy everything.

“I knew stopping the plan would involve killing the clan, killing my family; but I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if our greed destroyed everything I loved about my home. So, Aqua Regina sacrificed her physical body to destroy the clan, leaving me, the twins and one other Panthalassa alive. To help me, she gave me a tail. I was traveling with mer pods, when I heard the stories about a lone Panthalassa that was gathering Pearl Royals with the goal to bring back Aqua Regina and destroy the ocean. I feared that I lost my whole clan in vain, but it wasn’t. Despite his anger towards mers, he found one to love. He gave up a chance for power, to let her go and make her happy.”

“Sara.” Keith said. “Queen Sara and the Panthalassa fell in love. But wait, if you’re a Panthalassa, then what about…me? Does dad know? You’re not going to tell me you took control of the Indian Ocean Kingdom, are you?”

“No, no. Keith, I swear. Your father is the only one who knows. I couldn’t not tell him. After Queen Sara passed, Aqua Regina gave us Sierra; but she had been attacked by the last living Ancient. Aqua Regina found me and asked for my help. The Pearl Royals who helped Sara were going to help Sierra. She knew they would be able to succeed, and she wanted help to bring the kingdom back. Without it, it would be a matter of time before the sea fell into dark hands again. It needed its protectors, the Pearl Royals and their kingdoms. I met your father while helping to gather Indian Ocean mers who’d been scattered. After we fell in love, I couldn’t not tell him. I felt too guilty. I was part of the clan that started the whole mess.”

As terrified of Panthalassa as he was growing up, he didn’t think they were to blame for everything. The Indian Ocean’s destruction was because of people trying to steal back control.

“What about Queen Sierra? They say you knew her.”

“I did. The Pearl Princess saved her, and after enjoying the surface for a while, she came to rebuild her kingdom. She said Aqua Regina told her to ask me for help. I guess without her friends near, because they had to go to their own kingdoms, I became the one she could trust. I always hate it, when those stupid council members go on talking about how her sympathising with the enemy – the Ancient –, made the whole Kingdom weak.

“They didn’t know him like she did. She saw every hurting part of him, and how he was taken advantage of by someone he thought he could trust, like Queen Sara. I wasn’t expecting to outlive her, but when it was time for her to move on and with no heirs to pass the crown to, she asked me. I couldn’t, but then in all her shining glory, Aqua Regina appeared, and told me that if the Indian Ocean Kingdom was ever going to regain its glory, it needed to be ruled by someone from the other side. Until the time that she comes with a new Pearl Royal, I’ve ruled the kingdom, protecting the weapons of my people and the Pearl.” Krolia said, fingering the shell necklace around her neck.

Keith had stared at the necklace all his life. All it was missing was the wings of a Pearl Royal’s necklace. He would never have guessed that his mother had ruled in place of a Pearl Royal, he just thought he was different for not having a reaction to it. Now he knew it was because…

“I’m Panthalassa?”

“Half, but yes. That’s why the Trident reacted the way it did. It only activates with a Panthalassa's touch.”

“Why did you never tell me this? Were you going to?”

“I wanted to, but...the last thing I wanted was for you to fear that the council would do something to you. Even after they started those rules of banishment, Sierra didn’t know what to do. She didn’t agree with it but with no blessing from Aqua Regina, and no reason that didn’t expose me, she couldn’t stop it. The fear and anger were still too fresh. But instead of trying to stop it, we – no, **_I_** let it fester and grow. I should've stopped it when I took the throne, but I didn’t and because of that, you suffered. I couldn’t tell you about your bloodline or about how it didn’t matter because your father and I love you very much and that would never change. When you absorbed the Trident’s power, you had nowhere to turn, and for that I'm sorry.”

“He had us.” Shiro interrupted. “And even if he knew, and still came, he would still have us.”

Keith felt the knot that had been building in his chest release a little. He could tell from the smiles on Shiro and Adam’s faces, that they meant it. Was he mad at his mother? Yes, but their kingdom was flawed. The council had made demands of a new Queen who’s only support was a woman who was trying to do the right thing while still recovering from loss. And if his mother had stood up to them, so much wouldn’t have happened. Shiro would have never met Adam, fallen in love. Keith would have never gotten the chance to live in Altea with them, he wouldn’t have met Lance. He would have never gained the life he had on the surface.

“Will you change it? Tell the council the truth?” Keith asked.

Krolia put her hand on Keith’s cheek, staring down at her son. She didn’t see any hatred or disgust. Acceptance and a look of wisdom almost beyond his years.

“I will. I won’t live in fear any more.

“Is this why I never reacted to the Pearl? Because I’m Panthalassa?”

“Well, it’s more because you’re not related to Sierra. You’re actually not the only half Panthalassa. The North Atlantic Ocean Kingdom’s previous Queen, was married to the other twin from the prophecy.”

“Wait, Luchia and Kaito Domoto?” Shiro asked, suddenly putting it together. The tattoo, the necklace, the odd wording of her hometown. “But, how did we never know?”

“It seems no council, even theirs, have love for the Panthalassa. According to Kaito’s daughter, after her older sister was crowned, the Queen Luchia started her life on the surface again and the council didn’t like that. I don’t think it’s a secret, but it hasn’t been spread very far. Sierra knew, though she didn’t know Kaito very well; other than he treated her like a sister and he was utterly in love with Queen Luchia. She always wanted to find love like theirs.”

“That’s why everything in her book was correct. Because she was a Pearl Royal.” Keith realised. “I spent almost 2 months looking for answers but I’m sure if I continued reading her books, I would have found something. Lance did say there was a mention of the main character having powers of a dark past.”

“Lance?” Krolia asked. “That boy with your scale around his neck?”

Oh, gods below, she had met Lance? “Um, well, see when I came here, I was still trying to keep all that extra power inside, it kinda, well, um?” How did he word this so she didn’t know how terrifying it had been for him?

“Popped like a balloon?” Shiro offered.

“What’s a balloon?” Krolia asked.

“Mer terms, sweetheart.” Adam suggested. This could go on for hours if they didn’t explain it in normal terms.

“Inked like a squid?” Not what he was going for but the image fit how he felt. “The power affected the whole ocean. It caused this wave to just collapse and someone who was surfing it fell in and was drowning. That was Lance. I put the scale on him and helped him get to the surface so he could be saved. He's this huge mer lore nerd, and I wasn’t expecting to see him again, but we saw each other again at Adam’s cafe and he recognised me. I still don’t know how. He keeps saying it’s my hair but I refuse to believe that.”

“Anyway,” Keith continued, “after what happened, I was scared to go back in the water again, in case the power came back. And even though his really bad wipeout made him scared of going in the water too, he still helped me. After that, we kinda bonded. We hang out all the time and he let me hide in his room when we saw Thace. I felt safe with him and I enjoy being with him.”

“You like him.” Krolia stated.

“What? No, I don’t. I mean maybe, I don’t know yet.”

“What does he like?”

“Huh?” Keith questioned, wondering what his mother was doing.

“Answer me. What does he like?”

“Um, he likes surfing, hanging out with the dolphins at the Marine Park. He’s got a big heart; he cares for them. You should see him interacting with the otters. They love him. Um, he’s the biggest nerd for anything ocean related, especially mer lore. He could stay in the water for hours. He also loves annoying his favourite people. He can be smug when he wants to be. He’s also got this weird love of salty and sweet things. He likes bacon and raisins together and it’s the grossest thing in the world and... what?” His mother was staring at him with this look on her face, like she was trying not to laugh.

“Wow. I’m beginning to see it.” Shiro said, the same look on his face.

“Right? And he’s wondering if it’s actually real.” Adam said.

“What?” Keith asked, tired of all the secrets.

“Keith. The way you talk about this Lance person, is the same way I talk about your father.” Krolia said.

“Or I talk about Adam.” Shiro threw in.

“I think it’s safe to say that you have feelings for Lance, Keith. I think if you try to deny it, you’d be kidding yourself.” Adam said, smirking to himself as Keith got red.

“So, what happens now?” Keith asked, trying desperately to ignore that maybe they were right.

“Well, if you want...you can come back to the Indian Ocean Kingdom.”

Any thoughts of Lance went out of his head. Adam and Shiro’s faces dropped as well. Go back? In the first few days on being here that was all he wanted. To have answers and go back home. But now...he had a life here. Shiro and Adam, the Cafe and Inn, Lance and the new friends he was starting to make. It was only 2 months, but everything had changed. He would have begged to go back, but now, did he even want to?

* * *

Lance swept off the last of the dried henna. It was not as dark as it could be if he’d left it on all night, but the itching had been driving him crazy. It probably didn’t help that he had all that extra sugar running through his veins from being Hunk’s taster. Thank god he was going surfing. The sun was starting to set and the spotlights were set up. They’d get a solid two hours of surfing once the sun was finally down, but since today was his last day surfing before the competition Lance was determined to get as many waves as possible.

“Lance, come on!” Hunk yelled, already halfway in the water.

“I’m coming!” Lance adjusted the sleeve of his wetsuit and started to grasp for the zipper when someone grabbed it for him and pulled it up. “Oh! Thanks, Keith!”

Standing behind him was the mer prince, his face contemplative.

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah, just...my mom is here. That's why I wasn’t at the cafe today. She came to the Inn last night when Shiro and I went to the moon pool. Shiro knew she’d be back, and we thought we could finally get our answers.”

“Did you? Are you in trouble? Is she taking you away?” Lance spilled out.

“No, well, not like that. I’m not in trouble. The reason the Trident reacted was because it was touched by a Panthalassa.”

“But you touched it.” Then, it all suddenly clicked. “Wait, you’re Panthalassa? But how?”

“My mom. It's a really long story, but apparently my mom was part of the clan Aqua Regina had to destroy. In fact, she’s the one who originally went and asked her for help. She helped bring the Indian Ocean Kingdom together when Sierra came; she and my dad were the only ones who knew, because the council made such a huge fuss about it and my mom was scared. She came to explain the whole thing herself. When she goes back, she is gonna tell the council the truth. I’m mad at her, but I also understand that it must have been hard. Besides, if it wasn’t for those stupid rules, Adam and Shiro would not have met; and I would never have gotten to come here and meet you – and everyone else.”

“Oh. Wow, that’s... wow. So, I guess the Panthalassa will always be a part of the Indian Ocean Kingdom,” Lance said. He had a thousand questions, but he could tell Keith was still processing everything. “So, what about your mom? What’s gonna happen?”

“Well, she's gonna tell the council and hope that Aqua Regina appears. But um, she said I can go back with her.”

“Oh.” Lance said stunned.

“Yeah.”

Lance had wondered if Keith would go back, but with their search for answers going nowhere, he hadn’t worried about it. Lance didn’t want him to go, but he also knew Keith missed home.

“Are you? Going back?” Lance asked.

“I don’t know.” Keith said, looking like the lost and confused person he had been when he arrived in Altea.

“Lance!” Hunk yelled from the waves.

“Um,” Lance started.

“I’ll be here for the competition. I think. I’ll try, um. You should go before Hunk comes and drags you. You’ve only got so many waves before the police come to drag you guys out.” Keith said, looking for a way out.

“Right. Will I see you tomorrow?” Lance asked, not bothering to hide his hope.

“Hopefully. Maybe. I’ll try.” Keith said, already walking backwards away from Lance. He was only a few feet away on the sand, but soon, maybe, he would be oceans away.

“Bye.”

Lance pulled his board out of the sand, looking at the henna on his hand. The mer tail was a connection of him and Keith. He hoped this temporary mark wouldn’t be his only memory of him. Something that would eventually fade, he didn’t want their connection to fade along with it. But if Keith wanted to go back home, who was Lance to stand in his way? Even if he could feel his heart breaking, and the saltwater was just a convenient excuse for his cheeks being wet.


	15. Taking a chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This would of been the last chapter if I felt like some things were kinda unresolved. Well, not unresolved, just needed to be written. I know it's short, but I'll wait to post the last chapter. Enjoy this one!

After finally being dragged out of the ocean by the police – they weren’t arrested or given tickets; everyone knew how surfers got in the days leading up to a competition – Lance had thrown himself into working on his thesis and other assignments. He had not gone to bed until Hunk stood by the light switch and asked if he was ready for lights out. When the room was quiet, with only Hunk’s snore filling the silence, the tears had come back to his eyes, and he’d laid there crying silently for what felt like hours. It was nearing 4 am and Lance still hadn’t fallen asleep.

Keith could go back home to the Indian Ocean. It wasn’t set in stone but how could he not go? He ran away from home scared that he’d be thrown out, and he needed answers. But now he had his answers. He was told by his mother that he’d be ok, and he could go back home. He hadn’t made a decision but Lance was sure home was what Keith wanted.

He turned onto his side and saw the small gift box Keith’s present was in. He was still going to give it to him, but the question of also telling him how he felt, that was still up in the air. Should he? It didn’t feel right to tell him his feelings when Keith was leaving. What if it made Keith feel guilty?

Lance let out a huff and threw his comforter off him. He quietly went and grabbed a pair of swimming trunks and changed in the dark. Then he grabbed a towel, his keys and phone and left. His mind was too frazzled, and he needed a distraction. Lance’s hand went to the necklace around his neck, the scale that was a memory of when they met. Lance loved being able to swim for hours with no issues breathing underwater with the scale Keith entrusted to him. They would both go swimming when they would hang out. After Keith left, would he be able to use it still, without memories flooding his mind?

* * *

Keith’s room wasn’t decorated. He didn’t spend much time in it, preferring to be with Shiro, Adam or Lance or down in the hidden room. Lance had come over one time, and been in his room. Keith promised to tell him the history of Clam Fairies, and thanks to a class being cancelled and Lance taking an extra shift, Lance had been at the Cafe all day. Lance said he’d get distracted if he went to the hidden room so they’d gone to Keith’s room instead.

“It’s so empty! Where’s the personality?”

“There’s not really much that would speak to my personality.”

The next time he’d seen Lance, the surfer had shoved mer posters, centrefolds from surfing magazines, pictures of the Primary dolphin group from the Marine Park, and a moon phase chart into his arms. Those pictures now decorated the walls of his room. One of the centre folds – Keith didn’t know if it had been planned or not – was a picture of Lance, his board in hand, with the mer sticker in its place. Lance loved mer lore, but never once did Keith feel like he was just some walking encyclopaedia for Lance. They were friends, maybe closer than that.

_“The way you talk about this Lance person is the same way I talk about your father.”_

_“Or I talk about Adam.”_

There was no denying it now. He liked Lance, a lot. But…

_“Well, if you want...you can come back to the Indian Ocean Kingdom.”_

He had grown up thinking the Panthalassa were evil, based on the stories of how they ruined the kingdom. But after hearing the story of Sara choosing her Panthalassa lover, it was hard to see them as heartless monsters. His own mother chose the protection of the whole ocean over her family. She was still choosing to keep them safe. To find out he was half Panthalassa was scary, but being Panthalassa didn’t make him a monster. He chose to leave his kingdom to protect it. He chose to stay away to keep them safe. To go back now, should be his reward.

Then why did it feel like the worst decision ever?

Keith pushed his blanket off and got out of bed. Staring at the walls wasn’t going to make it better. He headed to the backyard, making sure he remembered to put in the code so the security alarm didn’t go off, but was surprised to see it was already disabled. He opened the door to see the familiar back of his mother. Whenever he stood with her at events or such, he could look at her back and see how strong she was. Right now, though, she looked tired.

“Mom?”

Krolia turned her head and gestured for him to come closer. He sat down next to her on the lounge chair.

“I thought you were fast asleep. After you came back, you went straight to your room.”

Telling Lance that he might be leaving had been hard. Keith hadn’t even made a decision yet, but it felt wrong to not warn him. He could tell Lance was stunned and had sounded hopeful when he mentioned possibly being at the competition. He was sure Lance wanted him to stay. But could he?

“I went to tell Lance what happened. He’s been helping me look for answers so I thought he should at least know. And...I wanted to let him know I might be leaving.”

“Have you made your decision?”

“I don’t know. The Indian Ocean is my home but, Altea is just as important to me.”

Krolia pulled her son into a hug, like he was a guppy worried about embarrassing himself in front of the council.

“If I had been up front with the council when Aqua Regina first blessed me as the new Queen, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But as much as I regret my fear holding me hostage, I can’t change the past. Things happen for a reason. If I had told, and the rules had been changed, do you think Shiro would have met Adam?”

Keith shook his head. “Shiro liked sneaking to the surface because it was against the rules. He’s so straight laced about everything else, he needed to break a rule every now and then.”

“And if our kingdom was like the North Pacific’s, knowing their history, do you think you’d appreciate it as much?”

Keith shook his head again. “No. I mean, to have known he gave up winning to make her happy would have been nice, but I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much, probably. To know that those we thought evil would give up everything for love, just like everyone else.”

“And do you think you would ever have come here?”

“No. I wouldn't have. Visit the surface maybe, but I would have stayed near the countries within the Indian Ocean.”

“Hatchling, you’ll always have a home in the Indian Ocean. That will never change, even if I have to fight the council. If you want to stay, you can.”

“But what if they say you can’t, what if they make more rules and I wouldn’t be let back in?”

“Then you need to decide what you want more. I might be biased, but sometimes love is worth risking everything for.”

* * *

Lance yelped when a customer knocked over their drink. All that time around Keith and Shiro had made him good at dodging liquids.

“Sorry!”

“That’s ok. I’ll bring you another drink. Fruit punch, right?”

The glass didn’t break so he started picking up the ice cubes from the floor when he saw a familiar person. Keith with the woman who asked him about his necklace. That woman had been Keith’s mother?

“Lance.” Keith called. He was fidgeting with his fingers. He'd done that last night when they talked. “This is my mom, Krolia.”

She was in shorts compared to the dress he’d seen her in last time, but she still looked as powerful as ever.

“Nice to meet you.” Lance greeted.

“Um, if you’ve got a lunch break coming up, do you want to join us?” Keith offered. “I could tell you what my mom told me about the Panthalassa.”

“I’d really love to, but I get off in 10 minutes and Hunk needed my help with something. Um, but will I see you tomorrow?”

“I was planning on leaving tomorrow, what’s happening?” Krolia asked, not seeing Lance’s face drop.

“Lance has a surf competition tomorrow.”

“It’s ok. Don’t worry. I’ll try stopping by the Inn tonight. Excuse me.”

It wasn’t a straight answer, but it felt like one. Krolia announcing that she was leaving meant there was a very good chance Keith was going with her. Maybe he should have joined them, but he didn’t want their last moments to be lunch with his mom sitting right there. Could he actually ruin their last night together by actually telling Keith how he felt?

“Lance? Lance, are you listening?”

Lance looked over at Hunk. When did he even leave work and come back to the dorm?

“What’s going on? You’ve been weird since last night. I thought you were crying but I know you. Except, I’m starting to wonder.” Hunk asked, putting the cheese cake batter down. When Hunk took his full attention off the food he was making and turned it to you, you knew there was nothing you could do to get away. Lance had been on the receiving end of that look more than enough times.

“Last night, on the beach, Keith found me and told me his mom is in town. He was here living with Shiro because of a falling out, and his mom wanted to talk to him.” Lance said, giving the very heavily edited version.

“Is everything ok? I mean, I remember he came to our room because of family issues.”

“Yeah. He had a lot of questions because of things he found out and they were able to work everything out.”

“That’s great! He must be really happy.” Hunk said.

“He is. It’s just...yesterday he told me he might be moving back home.”

“Oh. How far does he live?”

“Hunk, Keith is Shiro’s brother.” Lance stated.

“And Shiro is from India. Wow, that’s really far. Maybe it won’t be so horrible. Maybe you could long distance?”

Last time he checked; phones didn’t exist under the sea. The only reason Adam and Shiro worked out was because they met up at a certain spot then spent a whole month by themselves on a boat. Clearly something went right there, since Shiro didn’t dive back into the ocean and swim off to another kingdom. He didn’t have that option.

“I don’t think so. From what I understand, they’re not really a technology family. Maybe this whole thing was doomed from the beginning.”

He knew he sounded like he was whining, but he’d never really had a crush like this. And no, not because Keith was a mer. His usual crushes were just falling for looks or a kind personality. Most didn’t stick around long enough to get to know Lance. This was different. Even when they weren’t looking for answers, he and Keith were close. He enjoyed being around him and the idea that maybe it could be more was something Lance wanted desperately. But if Keith left to go back to his family, and Lance would never push him to not go to his family if that was his choice, Lance wouldn’t get his chance.

“Lance, did he say it was definite?”

“No, but he’s an only child Hunk. His mom is pretty important at her job and she took the time to come talk to him. She’s been here 3 days now and I’m sure she’d be here longer if she wanted to just to talk with him. I know if my mom asked, I’d go with her to Cuba.” Lance pointed out.

“Ok. When are they leaving?”

“She said tomorrow.” Seeing the look on Hunk’s face, Lance shrugged. “What do you want me to say? It’s a full day flight, the sooner they leave the better. It’s not ideal, but if it’s what he wants...”

“You need to tell him.”

“What?”

“Tonight, after this cheesecake is done, we’re going to the inn, we’re giving him his presents and you are going to tell him.” Hunk ordered. “If this is your last chance, are you really going to just let things go? Just tell him and if he stays, maybe you two can work things out. If not, then you can move on. But are you really gonna stay here with the what-ifs?”

As tempting as it was to say yes, Lance sighed. “What have I got to lose?”

* * *

“I’ve come to give you something you’ve always wanted.” Matt called out as he strolled into the Inn. Like an older male Pidge, Matt was just as snarky and tech savvy. Shiro loved Pidge but half the time he wanted to strangle Matt. Mostly because he didn’t have an off button.

“What have I said about how you announce yourself when you come in? I’ve got a full inn.” Shiro said from his spot behind the check in desk.

Matt dropped a manila envelope on the desk, leaning on it like he was trying to flirt. Shiro had seen better tactics from mers, trying to get a lower price on his family crafted pieces.

“But you are going to love me for this.” He slid the envelope closer to Shiro. “I got you the new identity. Just in time for his birthday tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Shiro said. He should have corrected Matt about the date but it was the whole idea of what was in the envelope that threw him. Before Krolia had even appeared, they asked Matt to make Keith an identity. Matt had made his own, with few questions asked and thankfully even less when it came to Keith. They’d been hoping to give it to Keith as a present but now, it was the question of if Keith was even going to be here.

“Oh? What do you mean oh? Did I get something wrong?”

“Well, his birthday is the 23rd, so I hope you got that right and...I feel kinda bad. We don’t know if Keith will be here to even use it.”

Matt’s eyes lit up. Odd for someone who was just told he might have wasted time breaking the law.

“So, Pidge was telling the truth. The woman is the queen of a foreign country and the kid is her kid.”

Shiro frowned at Matt. Never mind, both Pidge and Matt had no sense of filter. They were hopeless.

“Thank you, Matthew. You may go.” He said, taking the envelope and hiding it in a drawer.

“Am I right? Tell me I am, please?” Matt begged.

“Unless you’re here to eat, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Matt frowned. “Fine. Keep your secrets. I’ll find out eventually. You’ll see.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. He could deal with Matt later. Right now, he had something more concerning to deal with. Well not really concerning, just...made him question if Keith would stay. He wanted him to. Not just because he and Adam eventually wanted to adopt, but because he missed Keith a lot in his years he’d lived on land. Seeing him again was the best thing ever, he wanted another mer around him and if it was Keith, then great. He got to be with his best friend, the little prince who’d come and hang out in his parent’s store for hours. He wanted Keith to stay. But if he had the chance of going back home, did he really have the right to keep him from going?

The front door opened again and Adam came in, Lance and Hunk trailing behind him.

“Look who I bumped into on the way over. Hunk made cheesecake for Keith’s birthday.” Adam announced.

“Lance said he wasn’t sure when Keith was leaving, so I thought I’d bring it over today. I’ll be too tired tomorrow to even think about making a new one.” Hunk said, dragging Lance in behind him. He had the same look Shiro was sure was on his face, when he faced the reality of having to possibly leave Adam.

“I hear the president is having a huge party in town as a pre competition event. How does that put us for dinner?” Adam asked.

“As far as I know, everyone is going. I’ve got a simple pasta bar for anyone who isn’t. Feel free to help yourselves to that. Keith and his mom went on a walk.” A swim more like it but from the look in Lance’s eyes, he understood.

“That’s fine. We can wait.” Hunk said, dragging Lance into the dining room, leaving Shiro and Adam alone.

“It’s just a swim, right? Not leaving, and never returning?” Adam asked.

“They’re coming back. I barely got the chance to say goodbye to Keith the last time, I can’t see him disappearing without saying goodbye.” Shiro explained, pulling the envelope out of the drawer. “Look what came.”

Adam sighed. “I know it’s presumptuous to act like he’s already packing up but, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t go back. It’s what he wanted, right? Maybe if we’re lucky, he’ll come back and visit. You know, I think Lance is gonna tell Keith how he feels.”

“And we know how he feels?”

“Shiro, I know that look. Same one I had on my face when I realised, I could lose you.”

“Hopefully Lance gets the same chance we did.”

So, they waited for Keith to come back. For hours. Shiro even went to go look for them. Adam watched Lance play with the gift box, the smile absent from his face. He almost looked like he got his heart crushed.

“It’s getting late. We need to get up early for check in and practise.” Hunk said, covering the partially eaten cheesecake.

“Sure. I can't wait to see you guys out there tomorrow. Lance?” Adam said as the young man stood up, “Keith would tell you if he was leaving.”

“I hope so. Hey, if he is leaving, can you give this to him?” Lance asked, sliding the box over. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

* * *

Keith stared up at the moon as he floated on his back in the water. His mother wanted to see the moon pool and he offered to bring her, but now being here made him feel depressed. He wanted to take Lance here. It was a part of mer culture that wasn’t really talked about because of how rare they were. He knew Lance would go crazy for it. He sighed. Did that mean he wanted to stay here? Why was this so hard to decide?

“Keith, it’s rather late. Maybe we should head back?” Krolia asked.

Head back? “Wait, I haven’t decided if I want to stay or not. I can’t just go without saying goodbye and-”

“Keith, I mean back to the Inn.”

“Oh.”

A shape swam into the pool, though as it got closer to the surface, Keith saw Shiro’s white hair.

“There you are! You said you two were going for a quick swim. You’ve been gone for ages. Lance is at the inn waiting for you.”

“What?” Keith didn’t really stay after that. He dived back down and swam back to the secret entrance at the Inn. He scrambled to evaporate the water on him and rush upstairs, sliding into the empty dining room. He saw Adam come out of the kitchen, looking surprised at his appearance.

“Keith, you’re back.”

“Where’s Lance?”

“He and Hunk left already. It was getting late and they have to be up early for check in.”

Keith let out a groan before storming off to his room. He ignored Adam calling after him and even the sounds of his mother and Shiro coming in. Why couldn’t he just make a decision already? If this was his last day, he just wasted a chance to see Lance. He hadn’t even given Lance an answer. Why was it so hard to choose?

He closed the door and sat on the edge of his bed, curling up. He groaned again when someone knocked on the door.

“Go away, Adam!”

“Not Adam. Or your mother. Can I come in?” Shiro asked.

“Fine.” The door opened and Shiro walked in, a cake carrier in hand, a small box and forks in his other. “What is that?”

“Hunk made you cheesecake. Sweets usually help solve problems.” Shiro said, sitting on the bed and putting the forks and box down so he could open the carrier.

“I forgot he was making me a cake. Every time I’ve seen him, he’s shoved a different flavour cake in my mouth.”

“It’s very good. I’d suggest the dark chocolate.” Shiro said, picking up a fork and handing it to Keith.

Keith took a bite and tried not to moan. All the cakes Hunk fed him had been good, even though the flavours weren’t really doing it for him; but the bittersweet chocolate with hints of berries, was the best thing ever.

“I didn’t even thank him. Of course, I don’t even know if I’m going!”

Shiro put the cake down behind him and focused on Keith. “Talk to me, Keith.”

“I want to go home. It’s what I wanted the most when I came here. But being here, I have you and Adam and Lance, I’ve always been interested in the surface and I can live here but still not be alone because I’ll have you. But leaving the Indian Ocean, means leaving my mom and dad, the Blades, Kosmo. I told Kosmo that everything would be ok when he came looking for me. But I love living here. Can’t I just eat cake and forget about making a decision?” Keith whined like a guppy.

“I really don’t think you want to.” Shiro said, as Keith ignored him and turned to grab more cheesecake when he noticed the box.

“What’s this?”

“That’s Lance’s gift.”

Shiro watched Keith pick it up and open it. Keith stared at the delicate necklace, using his finger to spread the charms out. He leaned over to look at one of them.

“That gem is the same colour as your eyes.” The red purple of Keith’s eyes was rather unique. His mom had purple eyes and his dad had brown, so the unique mixed colour was all Keith.

“When Lance and I saw each other at the Cafe, he said he recognised me because of my hair but I never believed him. I don’t think he noticed me until I turned around,” Keith admitted, looking at the gem. It wasn’t close to the colour of his tail, nor near any colour he tended to wear. It was completely unique to his eyes. Was it as simple as his eye colour that made Lance recognise him? “I want to stay, Shiro. I really want to stay. Even if things don’t work out between us, even if it’s so stupid to take a chance because maybe he recognised my eyes, I want to take that chance.”

“Taking a chance on love isn’t stupid Keith. Sometimes, taking that chance is worth it.”

* * *

“Welcome everyone to Altea’s 68th annual Surf Competition!” Allura Fara Juniberry, president of the small country of Altea, waited for the crowd’s applause and cheers to die down, pushing her white dyed hair behind her shoulder. “This is one of our biggest events of the year and I am happy to announce that we have perfect weather and according to our experts, the waves are truly something. To quickly remind everyone of the rules, our contestants have been divided randomly into 5 groups. Each group will have 3, 20-minute heats in the water to catch their best waves and show off their best moves. As most of our groups only have 3 people in them, we are having one person per wave. Once everyone has gone, we will calculate the points and decide our winner. Is everyone ready?” The crowd cheered once more. “Alright then, Group 1 please head into the water! I think I see waves forming.”

Lance yanked his board out of the sand and made sure it was connected to his ankle. The lifeguards doubled as referees, to make sure people weren’t cheating and approached Lance to see if his board would give him an advantage, but they shooed him away when they saw the traditional board in his hands. To think, last time he was in a competition, Keith had unknowingly been right under him. Keith was supposed to be leaving today, and he hadn’t seen Shiro or Adam since he and Hunk arrived this morning. There was a good chance Keith was already gone. He wished Keith had at least said goodbye, or that he had at least given his gift in person. He pushed those thoughts aside, hard as they were. Keith pushed himself to help Lance get over his fear of surfing. Keith pushed him to surf again. He at least deserved the knowledge that Lance would do his best.

Lance dived into the water, trying to stay on the edge of where the waves were forming. He was last in his group, and last thing he needed was to catch a wave unintentionally and get disqualified. Once he was situated, he adjusted the video camera that Coran stuck on his board. Something about wanting promo footage of him.

“Our first group is in the water and the waves are approaching, so let’s turn it over to our judges and commentators.”

“Thank you, Madame President. Alright Altea, are you ready? In this group, we have everyone’s hopeful Lance McClain but I heard that his best friend and close competitor Tsuyoshi Garrett is going up against him in another group! Will McClain keep his title or will he be defeated by his best friend; or will an entirely new opponent beat them both? Let’s find out, shall we? We’re sending out our surfing drones and our first surfer, is Ms. Erika Wong, who’s recently earned the name ‘Queen of the Waves’. Let’s see what she can do!”

Lance looked up to see the small drone flying near him, waving at it. Most surf competitions didn’t use drones to get footage of surfers, but Altea used them all the time. It was always interesting to see what other surfers were up to while waiting for their turn. Lance had been so focused on watching Erika approach her wave that he almost didn’t notice something grabbing his ankle until he was pulled in, turning his board over with him.

Hunk was staring at one of the screens, watching Lance fall into the water for no reason.

“Um, ok? Weird.”

Coran, who was standing next to him, standing out amongst everyone in his suit, was staring at his phone where footage from Lance’s board cam was coming in.

“A lot of bubbles, Lance’s hand and...the board got flipped over. What on earth is he doing?”

“Well I guess whatever that was, he’s ok. Look, he’s holding onto the board.” Hunk pointed out, seeing Lance’s hand sticking out holding onto the board.

“But that doesn’t answer what he’s doing.”

What Lance was doing was staring at Keith.

“What are you doing here? You do realise there’s a competition going on, with live feed drones. You could be spotted.”

“I know, I just needed to let you know. I’m not going back to the Indian Ocean.” Keith said, fidgeting with the necklace around his throat.

“You’re not? Is it because you’re half Panthalassa?”

“No, well, not really. Unless Aqua Regina appears when my mom tells the council the truth, it’ll be an issue, but that’s not why I’m staying. I came here almost 2 months ago looking for answers and I got a lot more. Altea has become my home and I don’t want to leave it, or you.”

Lance noticed then that the necklace Keith was fidgeting with was the one Lance got him.

“You’re wearing it.”

“Yeah. I love it. Shiro mentioned the gem is similar to my eye colour.”

“It is.” Lance quickly answered, trying to shove the excitement down. Keith was staying, he was wearing the necklace and he’d said, ‘I didn’t want to leave you’.

“I knew it wasn’t my hair that you recognised.”

“Well, it is still a mullet, but,” Lance said, stopping Keith from making his usual argument, “I like it.”

The two shared a smile and then Lance remembered where they were.

“Um, what are you gonna do right now?” Lance asked.

“Watch the competition?”

“After my heat is over, I wanna ask you something. But, if I don’t pull myself back up, they’re going to think I drowned. Will you be there?” Lance asked, hopeful.

“I’ll be waiting with a towel.” Keith promised.

Lance climbed back onto his board, unable to keep the smile off his face. He didn’t want to assume, but he had a feeling the answer to his question was going to be one he wanted. Then he felt a finger poke his ankle, not moving even after he moved his foot. His stubborn fishy. God, _his_. He still needed an answer, but to think of Keith as his, filled him with such glee. And he could care less about the fact Keith was a mer. While he dreamed of dating a mer when he was a kid, a chance with Keith was so much better.

“Alright! Next up we’ve got our reigning champion, Lance McClain. He just won a competition in Dubai but there’s still a chance he can be beaten on his home turf. Can he keep his throne?”

He was sure as hell gonna try. Lance looked over his shoulder at the wave approaching and smiled. He could do this. He was sure as he stood up, surfing with ease, that Keith was following him under his board. He got his answer when he entered a curl and saw a shape on the other side, fingers touching his as he let his hand skid across the water.

“Stubborn fish.” Well if Keith wanted to follow, he’d have to give him a show.

* * *

Lance shook the water out of his hair, dodging people who called out congratulations. So far Lance was in first but there were still other groups to go, but that was at the back of Lance’s mind. He found Hunk and Coran, who started taking the camera off, with Adam and Shiro. A certain black haired mer was missing but Lance wasn’t worried.

“Lance, guess what?” Hunk said, a huge smile on his face.

“What?”

“Keith is apparently staying. Isn’t that great?”

“Sure.” Lance could tell the wayward way he answered made Hunk suspicious.

“Oh, you know, already don’t you? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

Lance laughed, though it was cut off when he took a towel to the head. He pulled it off to see Keith smiling at him, his mother not far behind.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Keith greeted, getting close, but not close enough to get wet. “You had a question for me?”

“Did you want to go out tomorrow? I know it’s cheesy and it’s your birthday, but I might fall asleep on you when the competition is over and I want it to be special.”

“I’d love to. Gonna need a place to show this off.” Keith said, holding the charms on his necklace out, similar to how Lance had done with his scale when they met on land for the first time. Lance couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face.

“Keith, I need to get going. Remember what I said, ok?” Just as suddenly as she appeared, Krolia left.

“Everything ok?” Lance asked Keith softly.

“Perfect, actually. She said I can visit whenever I want; but if they kick her out, to go to the North Pacific Kingdom. They might not be crazy about the Panthalassa either, but at least they are nicer about it.”

“Lance,” Coran interrupted, “on the video, there’s the shape at the edge of one of curls you went into. What is that?”

“Maybe it’s a mermaid!!?” Keith looked stunned, but then relaxed when Coran let out an annoyed sigh.

“So, a dolphin then. You and your bloody mermaid obsession.

“What can I say, it makes me unique.”

“Must be why I like you.” Keith said, sharing a giddy smile with Lance.

When he came to Altea, he was looking for help and answers during one of the most confusing times of his life. He was prince of the Indian Ocean Kingdom, a mer kingdom with a history that most of its own people didn’t know. A queen had been betrayed, and then fell for her enemy.   
  
While most frowned at the story, Keith was starting to see it as a story about looking past the outside of a person to see how they were on the inside. Keith was a mer prince, who almost caused a human to drown. He could have told his secret to the world when they crossed paths again, but he didn’t. They got to know each other, depended on each other, got closer. In the end, it led to this. It had only started but Keith was sure it was as true as Queen Luchia’s relationship. Shiro was right. Sometimes taking a chance was worth it.


	16. An end to it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't on my laptop at all yesterday, so it slipped my mind. Originally, last chapter was going to be the last one when i was writing it but I felt like I was leaving things unsaid, so I wrote the epilogue. Hopefully you like it as much as I did.

Krolia swam back into her castle. While she was sad that Keith wasn’t with her, she saw how happy he’d looked when Lance asked him out. She knew it’d be nothing like when Tex courted her, but he was happy and surrounded with people that cared. He knew he could come see her whenever he wanted and he wouldn’t have to be scared about what the council would do. Well, hopefully. She still had to tell the council her big secret. But no more being afraid of her past. Did she regret betraying her family? Yes, but it was for the best. Their leader had been a tyrant. Everyone said Gaito, Queen Sara’s lover, was the worst Panthalassa but they hadn’t known her leader. She couldn’t change the past, but she could accept everything that it brought with it. She had found love in Tex, a dear friend in Sierra and a home in the Indian Ocean. If being honest took away one of those things from her, then so be it.

“Krolia!” Tex came swimming towards her, sweeping her up into his arms. “I was worried. Are you alright? Did you find Keith? Where is he?”

“I’m fine. I found Keith and he’s still there. It might have only been 2 months, but he found a home there and a chance at love. Though I think it’s more than just a chance.”

“Did you tell him? How did he take it?”

“He took it well. He'd been looking for answers and he was starting to look at Panthalassa differently. I think it helped when I told him the truth. I wish I hadn’t waited so long. I made him a promise though, I’m going to tell the council the truth. Queen Sara and Queen Sierra, especially Sierra have had their names and memories smeared for too long. It isn’t right and I won’t let it go on any longer. If they decide they have to get rid of me, I’ll leave and go to the North Atlantic Kingdom.” Krolia stated, sounding like the queen she was.

Tex took his wife’s face in his hands, staring at the woman who he fell for. “And I’ll be there every step of the way, Keith will know where to come looking for us right?”

“He will.”

“Perfect. Then let’s go rattle a few council members, shall we? I can’t wait to see their faces.”

Starting today, people were going to learn the true stories behind Queen Sara and Queen Sierra of the Indian Ocean Kingdom.

They found the council in the throne room, screaming at members of the Blades, demanding to know where their queen had gone, and why there was so much security around the weapons room.

“If I didn’t know any better, it sounds like you want to use the weapon for yourself.” Krolia announced.

“Where have you been? Is the crown a joke to you?” Varkon yelled, stilling when Krolia narrowed her eyes at him.

“Choose your next words carefully. I am still your queen, and in case it’s escaped you, my son is missing. I had to go look for him.”

“That is the Blades’ job.”

“And my job is to stay here and listen to you complain? Not on your life. Not when you’ve smeared the names of our past queens, because of something you couldn’t accept. They had bigger hearts and more care than all of you, in just one finger. I’m not going to swim here anymore and watch you ruin their names. Not when I’m one of the enemies you hate so much.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She took a deep breath, remembering that Aqua Regina asked her to help Sierra for a reason. She didn’t know if it was this, but she couldn’t allow this to continue any longer.

“I’m a Panthalassa. Aqua Regina turned me into a mer to protect me.”

The council reacted like she thought they would. Bad.

“Lies! A Panthalassa has been ruling us to ruin! What enchantments have you weaved on the kingdom? Blades, arrest her!”

“Our loyalty is to our queen.” Thace announced, which surprised her. She was expecting them to protect the council. “Aqua Regina wouldn’t allow her to rule if she didn’t approve.”

“Treason! We will not allow you to destroy our kingdom anymore.”

The room was suddenly filled with a bright light, a light Krolia knew well.

“It’s Aqua Regina!”

Dressed a white puffy dress that stood out against her bright blonde hair, Aqua Regina floated before them, her usual kind face harsh and angry. She was not a vengeful goddess. She didn’t take joy in causing harm, but right now, she did not look like a kind goddess. She was here to be heard.

“Never have I been so disappointed, the last council was responsible for this kingdom's destruction and you are pushing it on the same path. Krolia had great courage when she begged me for safety of the ocean. I asked her to help Sierra to help settle into her role as queen, but you decided that you knew better and took control yourself. Banishing my children for going to the surface or sympathising with those who have wronged you. I asked Krolia to rule this kingdom with the same compassion Sierra had for it and she has, and yet you try to turn your back on her now for something as small as who she was born to. It fills me with great disappointment.”

“But she's a Panthalassa!”

“Do you think I don’t know that! This kingdom has been poisoned by a fear of an enemy that is no longer. You are ruled by one of their own, and yes you are still cared for as if she were a Pearl Royal; you should be very glad of that. You will do no harm to her. I know what happens in my waters and if I find out you tried to throw her out, there will be no place for you to hide. The Panthalassa was a threat to the ocean; don’t think I won’t see you as one.”

* * *

“She is beautiful.” Lance said, staring at his new mermaid wind chime. “I was right, it’s perfect in the window.”

“Be happy I got it for you anyway, seeing how I won yesterday.” Hunk said from his spot.

“Yeah, but I gave you the recipe before you won, so you owed me anyway.”

Hunk stuck his tongue out at Lance. One of the cheesecakes for Keith was a salted caramel one, but his caramel no bake cheesecakes were never successful and he was struggling. So, Lance decided to help him out and tell him the secret behind his mom’s famous cake. Store bought dulce de leche with a splash of bitters. Hunk cursed him out for 5 minutes before yelling at himself for not realising how obvious it was. Even though Hunk did win – by half a point Lance would continue to point out – he still got the wind chime for Lance.

“A present for taking a risk and telling Keith how you felt.” Hunk said.

Speaking of which, Lance needed to get going or he'd be late for his first date with Keith. He couldn’t help the giddy smile that came to his face. Keith liked him and wanted to date him.

“Save the sappy looks for when you see Keith,” Hunk teased. “What are you planning on doing?”

“He’s gonna show me this underwater cave Shiro told him about.”

“I thought he couldn’t swim.”

“No, but he knows how to hold his breath for a really long time. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. I’ll see you later.” Lance called as he headed to the door.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“So, the possibilities are endless then.”

Lance left before Hunk could throw something at him. He’d have to remember to bring Hunk’s favourite ice cream back. He was going to be insufferable for the next couple days. He had a date!

Before long, he was at the Inn. He walked in, but got stopped by a family who’d seen him the day before at the competition and wanted photos. Just over their heads he could see Keith watching him, a smirk on his face. When he escaped, he walked up to Keith.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

They must have been staring at each other for a while, because Shiro felt the need to interrupt them.

“Aren’t the two of you adorable?” he teased.

“Shut up. Don’t you have lunch to serve?”

“Don’t think that just because it’s your birthday, I won’t put you to work. Maybe we should have you work here. If you work at the Cafe when Lance is there, no work will ever be done.” Shiro said.

“Ignore him. Lance, look what they gave me this morning!”

Keith pulled out an ID. He knew it couldn’t be real because in the picture, Keith’s eyes were a deep blue.

“A fake ID? Not the best present.”

“It is when the ID shows that you exist on the surface world. They got everything. Birth certificate, ID, everything. Officially speaking, I’m Shiro’s brother.”

“I’m sure I’ll regret that decision soon enough.” Shiro teased.

“Well then, I’ll take him off your hands so you don't get sick of him. Come on, I wanna see where you're taking me.” Lance said, taking Keith’s hand and dragging him to the office.

“It’s a moon pool. It's kinda sacred to mers, mostly the pods. When it’s the full moon it’s really beautiful, but any human in the pool during that time will turn into a mer, so...”

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand. “I think there’s only room for one mer in this relationship.”

They had just reached the pool when Keith stopped them.

“I’m really glad you asked me out. Part of me had been worried if I made the right decision, but I don’t think I’ll regret this.”

“Well, I will do my very best to make sure you won’t.”

Lance leaned in a little, hoping for a kiss, and Keith pushed him back into the water, laughing at him as he emerged sputtering.

“Hey! That was a present!”

Keith showed off his necklace. “I like my other present just a little better. Come on,” he dove into the water, emerging with white hair, “maybe the moon pool will give you better luck.”

He’d been lucky enough to actually date a mer, no, date a really amazing person. Anything after that was just an extra bonus.


End file.
